The Right Honourable The Earl of Dunmore PC |
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Governor of the Province of New York | |
In office 1770–1771 |
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Monarch | George III |
Preceded by | Sir Henry Moore |
Succeeded by | William Tryon |
Governor of the Province of Virginia | |
In office 1771–1775 |
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Monarch | George III |
Preceded by | Lord Botetourt |
Succeeded by | Patrick Henry (as Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia)) |
20th Royal Governor of the Bahamas | |
In office 1787–1796 |
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Monarch | George III |
Preceded by | James Edward Powell |
Succeeded by | John Forbes |
Personal details | |
Born | 1730 Taymouth, Scotland |
Died | 25 February 1809 Ramsgate, Kent, England |
Nationality | British |
John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, PC (1730 – 25 February 1809), generally known as Lord Dunmore, was a Scottish peer and colonial governor in the American colonies and The Bahamas.
Lord Dunmore was named governor of the Province 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 any slave who fought for the Crown against the Patriots in Virginia. Dunmore fled to New York after the Burning of Norfolk in 1776, and later returned to Britain. He was Governor of the Bahama Islands, from 1787 to 1796. Dunmore was the last royal governor of Virginia.
Murray was born in Tymouth, Scotland, the eldest son of William Murray, 3rd Earl of Dunmore, by his marriage to Catherine Nairne; he was a nephew of John Murray, 2nd Earl of Dunmore. In 1745 both Murray, then only 15, and his father joined the ill-fated Rising of "Bonnie Prince Charlie" (Charles Edward Stuart), and the young Murray was appointed as a page to Prince Charles. The second Earl, his uncle, remained loyal to the Hanoverians .