Malcolm Kenneth Murray, 12th Earl of Dunmore (born 17 September 1946 in Launceston, Tasmania) is an Australia-based Scottish peer who is a native-born Australian and lives in Tasmania. [1] [2] As well as holding the Earldom of Dunmore, Murray is also the Viscount of Fincastle and Lord of Blair, Moulin and Tillimet. [2] [3]
Murray inherited the earldom from his father, the 11th Earl who died in 1995. [2] The earldom first came to Australia when his uncle, the 9th Earl moved to Tasmania in 1942. [4] The title had passed to his father upon his uncle's death (who had no sons) in 1982. [2]
In 1998, he visited his ancestral home in Airth to plant a memorial tree beside the Dunmore Pineapple. [4]
He has made one speech, both his maiden and final speech, in the House of Lords on 25 November 1998, [5] less than one year before his automatic right to sit in the House of Lords was removed by the House of Lords Act 1999.
Murray studied at Launceston College, Tasmania and later worked as an Electrical Technical Officer for Airservices Australia. [3] He has worked as an aerodrome technician in Devonport, Tasmania. [1] In 2013, Murray officiated at the Clan Murray reunion in Dunedin. [1]
He is the High Commissioner of Clan Murray in Australia. [2] Dunmore is the Patron of the Scottish Australian Heritage Council, Crown International Dance Association, Australia Day Council (Victoria), The Company of Armigers Australia, The Armorial & Heraldry Society of Australia, Tasmanian Caledonian Council, The Murray Clan of Victoria, The Murray Clan of New Zealand, St Andrew's Society Tasmania, Tullibardine Pipe Band NSW, Co-Patron of St Andrew's First Aid Australia, The Murray Clan of Edinburgh, The Murray Clan Society of North America, Honorary member of the Murray Clan of NSW. [2]
Dunmore is also an active Freemason being a Past Master of Concord Lodge No 10TC (1996) and Devonport Masonic Lodge No 90TC (2016&2017)in Tasmania, Patron of Lodge Phoenix No 92TC in Tasmania (2015), Patron and Past Master of Lodge Amalthea No 914VC in Victoria,(2011 and 2012). On 13 May 2018, Dunmore became the inaugural Worshipful Master of the newly consecretated ‘Earl of Dunmore Lodge Number 1686’ under the register of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria, Australia. Dunmore being the first peer of the realm to be installed as the foundation Worshipful Master of a Masonic lodge consecretated in the name of a peerage. The Earl of Dunmore Lodge is the only Masonic lodge under the jurisdiction of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria with dispensation to work its ceremonies and practices according to the ancients Scottish tradition.[ citation needed ]
Dunmore married Joy Partridge in 1970. They have two adopted children, Leigh and Elisa. The Countess of Dunmore died on 4 August 2015. [6]
John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore was a Scottish peer, military officer, and colonial administrator in the Thirteen Colonies and The Bahamas. He was the last royal governor of Virginia. Dunmore was named governor of New York in 1770. He succeeded to the same position in the colony of Virginia the following year after the death of Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt. As Virginia's governor, Dunmore directed a series of campaigns against the trans-Appalachian Indians, known as Lord Dunmore's War. He is noted for issuing a 1775 document, Dunmore's Proclamation, offering freedom to slaves who fought for the British Crown against Patriot rebels in Virginia. Dunmore fled to New York after the burning of Norfolk in 1776 and later returned to Britain. He was Governor of the Bahamas from 1787 to 1796.
Duke of Atholl, named after Atholl in Scotland, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland held by the head of Clan Murray. It was created by Queen Anne in 1703 for John Murray, 2nd Marquess of Atholl, with a special remainder to the heir male of his father, the 1st Marquess.
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The title Earl of Moray, or Mormaer of Moray, was originally held by the rulers of the Province of Moray, which existed from the 10th century with varying degrees of independence from the Kingdom of Alba to the south. Until 1130 the status of Moray's rulers was ambiguous and they were described in some sources as "mormaers", in others as "Kings of Moray", and in others as "Kings of Alba". The position was suppressed by David I of Scotland some time after his defeat of Óengus of Moray at the Battle of Stracathro in 1130, but was recreated as a feudal earldom by Robert the Bruce and granted to Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray in 1312.
Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne is a title in the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The earl is also Chief of Clan Lyon.
Earl of Dunmore is a title in the Peerage of Scotland.
Lord Sinclair is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. According to James Balfour Paul's The Scots Peerage, volume VII published in 1910, the first person to be styled Lord Sinclair was William Sinclair, 3rd Earl of Orkney and 1st Earl of Caithness. However, according to Roland Saint-Clair writing in the late 19th century, William Sinclair's father, Henry II Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, who died in 1420, is the first person recorded as Lord Sinclair by public records.
Earl Cathcart is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey, was a British Liberal Party politician, Governor of Victoria and founder of The Naval Annual.
Margaret Alison of Mar, 31st Countess of Mar, is a Scottish hereditary peer and politician. She was a crossbench member of the House of Lords from 1975 to 2020 and was one of 92 hereditary peers elected to remain in the Lords in 1999. She is the holder of the original earldom of Mar, the oldest peerage title in the United Kingdom. She is the only suo jure countess and was the only female hereditary peer in the House of Lords from 2014 to 2020. She is also a farmer and former specialist goats cheesemaker in Great Witley, Worcestershire.
John Erskine, the 23rd and 6th Earl of Mar and 1st Duke of Mar,KT, was a prominent Scottish nobleman and a key figure in the Jacobite movement. He held the title of the 23rd Earl of Mar from the earldom's first creation and was the sixth earl in its seventh creation. Erskine, often remembered for his political adaptability, navigated the complex and shifting landscape of early 18th-century British politics.
Archibald Montgomerie, 11th Earl of Eglinton was a Scottish General and member of parliament (MP) in the British Parliament. He was also the Clan Chief of the Clan Montgomery. Montgomerie fought in the Seven Years' War, where he served with George Washington. He also was the patron of the poet Robert Burns.
Major Henry Herbert Kitchener, 3rd Earl Kitchener TD DL, styled Viscount Broome from 1928 to 1937, was a British peer. He was unmarried, and when he died the title Earl Kitchener became extinct.
Lord George Murray, 5th Earl of Dunmore FRSE, known as Viscount of Fincastle until 1809, was a Scottish peer.
Peers of the Realm have been associated with Australia since early in its history as a British settlement. Many peers served as governors of the Australian colonies, and in the days when the practice of appointing British governors-general was current, the great majority were peers.
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Patrick Andrew Wentworth Hope-Johnstone, 11th Earl of Annandale and Hartfell, is a Scottish peer. He succeeded his father as chief of Clan Johnstone in 1983, and his claim to an earldom was recognized three years later. He was a member of the House of Lords from 1986 to 1999.
John Cochrane, 2nd Earl of Dundonald, styled Lord Cochrane from 1679 to 1686, was a Scottish aristocrat.