Sir James Pulteney, 7th Baronet
Bornc. 1755
Died26 April 1811
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
RankGeneral
Battles/warsAmerican War of Independence
French Revolutionary Wars

General Sir James Murray Pulteney, 7th Baronet PC (c. 1755 – 26 April 1811)[1] was a Scottish soldier and British politician.

Background and education

Born James Murray, he was the eldest son of Colonel Sir Robert Murray, 6th Baronet and his first wife Janet Murray, a younger sister of Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Elibank.[2] Murray succeeded his father as baronet in 1771, while still a minor.[2] He was educated at Westminster School and joined then the British Army.[3]

Military career

Murray had had his first commission purchased in his mid-teens, as lieutenant in the 19th Regiment of Foot in 1770.[3] Already a year later, he became captain in the 57th Regiment of Foot.[4] He left for Europe in 1772 and having spent the time travelling, he returned to his regiment in Ireland in November 1775.[3] At the beginning of the next year, Murray embarked for The Colonies to serve in the American War of Independence.[4] He was wounded at the ankle during the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777, and shared his convalescence with his cousin Patrick Ferguson.[5] Soon after recovering, he was shot through the thigh at the Battle of White Marsh in November.[5]

Murray purchased a majority in 1778, serving with the 4th Regiment of Foot in the West Indies and was involved in the Battle of St Lucia.[4] He became lieutenant-colonel of the 94th Regiment of Foot in 1780[6] and on the regiment's disbandment after three years was set on halfpay.[4] In 1789, he was transferred to active duty and was appointed an aide-de-camp to King George III of the United Kingdom, ranked as a colonel.[7] Murray was sent to Koblenz, the headquarters of the allied forces against the French Revolutionary Armies.[3] He was attached as adjudant to the Frederick, Duke of York in April 1793, fighting in Flanders,[8] and was promoted to major-general in December.[9] In 1794, he received command of the 18th Regiment of Foot[10] and led his regiment to suppress the Irish Rebellion of 1798.[3] A year thereafter, in June 1799 Pulteney (he had taken the name of Pulteney in 1794) was made a lieutenant-general[11] and in November was wounded in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, having been second in command.[12] He commanded the Ferrol Expedition in August 1800 and sailed then to Gibraltar, before returning to England.[4] He became General Officer Commanding Eastern District in 1805.[13] In 1808 he became a full general.[14]

Political career

In 1790, he entered the British House of Commons, sitting as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis until his death in 1811.[3] Murray-Pulteney was sworn of the Privy Council in 1807, when he became Secretary at War, a post he held for two years.[3]

Family and death

On 24 July 1794, he married Henriette Laura Pulteney, 1st Baroness Bath, daughter of his cousin Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet in Bath House, London.[15] Two days before he had by Royal Licence assumed the surname Pulteney only to inherit his wife's relative Harry Pulteney.[16] Henrietta was raised to a countess in her own right in 1803[17] and inherited also the estates of her father in 1805, worth about £50,000 per year.[18] She predeceased her husband in 1808 and Murray survived her for three years, dying in Buckenham in Norfolk, from complications after losing an eye when a powder flask accidentally exploded in his face.[19] He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his halfbrother John.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Leigh Rayment - Baronetage". Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. 1 2 3 Burke, John (2001). Peter de Vere Beauclerk-Dewar (ed.). Burke's Landed Gentry of Great Britain. Burke's Peerage and Gentry. p. 1087. ISBN 0-9711966-0-5.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Thorne, R. G. (1986). The House of Commons, 1790-1820. Vol. III. London: Secker & Warburg. pp. 645–646. ISBN 0-436-52101-6.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1894). "Murray, James (1751-1811)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 376–377.
  5. 1 2 McGuire, Thomas J. (2007). The Philadelphia Campaign: Germantown and the Roads to Valley Forge. Vol. II. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. p. 242. ISBN 978-0-8117-0178-5.
  6. ↑ "No. 12124". The London Gazette. 3 October 1780. p. 2.
  7. ↑ "No. 13150". The London Gazette. 17 November 1789. p. 725.
  8. ↑ "No. 13519". The London Gazette. 17 December 1793. p. 298.
  9. ↑ "No. 13604". The London Gazette. 13 April 1793. p. 298.
  10. ↑ "No. 13627". The London Gazette. 25 February 1794. p. 180.
  11. ↑ "No. 15152". The London Gazette. 25 June 1799. p. 638.
  12. ↑ "No. 15174". The London Gazette. 3 September 1799. p. 870.
  13. ↑ Philippart, John (1816). The Royal Military Calendar.
  14. ↑ "No. 16142". The London Gazette. 3 May 1808. p. 622.
  15. ↑ Lundy, Darryl (14 March 2004). "General Rt. Hon. Sir James Murray-Pulteney, Bt". ThePeerage website. Retrieved 24 December 2006. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  16. ↑ "No. 13687". The London Gazette. 22 July 1794. p. 759.
  17. ↑ "No. 15625". The London Gazette. 1 October 1803. p. 1339.
  18. ↑ Grant, James (October 2009). Members of Parliament, Scotland, including the Minor Barons, the Commissioners for the Shire. BiblioBazaar Llc. p. 290. ISBN 978-1-113-82016-7.
  19. ↑ Sylvanus, Urban (1811). The Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. part I. London: John Nichols and Son. p. 499.

Further reading

  • James Murray (ed. E. Robson), Letters from America 1773 to 1780: Being the letters of a Scots officer, Sir James Murray, to his home during the War of American Independence, Manchester, 1951
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