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James Pulteney

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 as a condition of his wife becoming the heir to her father's fortune.[16] Henrietta was raised to a countess in her own right in 1803[17] and inherited 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

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  1. ^ "Leigh Rayment - Baronetage". Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c d e f g Thorne, R. G. (1986). The House of Commons, 1790-1820. Vol. III. London: Secker & Warburg. pp. 645–646. ISBN 0-436-52101-6.
  4. ^ a b c d e  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1894). "Murray, James (1751-1811)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 376–377.
  5. ^ a b 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)[unreliable source]
  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

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  • 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
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Member of Parliament for
Weymouth and Melcombe Regis
1790–1801
With: Thomas Jones 1790–1791
Richard Bempde Johnstone 1790–1796
Andrew Stuart 1790–1801
Sir James Johnstone 1791–1794
Gabriel Tucker Steward 1794–1801
William Garthshore 1796–1801 		Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Parliament of Great Britain
 Member of Parliament for
Weymouth and Melcombe Regis
1801–1811
With: Gabriel Tucker Steward 1801–1810
William Garthshore 1801–1806
Charles Adams 1801–1811
Richard Augustus Tucker Steward 1806–1811
Sir John Lowther Johnstone 1810–1811 		Succeeded by
Military offices
Preceded by Colonel of the 18th Regiment of Foot
1794–1811 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Secretary at War
1807–1809 		Succeeded by
Baronetage of Nova Scotia
Preceded by Baronet
(of Dalrany)
1771–1811 		Succeeded by
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