3-080-307 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

John Murray of Philiphaugh MP (1726-1800). John Murray (1726-1800,) was educated at Glasgow University and became an advocate in 1748. The 18th of his line, Murray failed to win his father's parliamentary seat of Selkirkshire, so stood and won the seat at Linlithgow. Popular, generous and reckless he lost the large part of his wealth through gambling and bad investments. In 1769, Murray went to America in an attempt to recoup his losses, but was back in Scotland in 1784 in such an impoverished state that the magistrates and council of Selkirk offered him financial assistance. Murray settled with his family in Jamaica, where he died in 1800.