John Murray of Broughton

Sir John Murray of Broughton, 7th Baronet Stanhope (c. 1718 – 6 December 1777) was a Jacobite, who served as secretary to Prince Charles Edward Stuart ('Bonnie Prince Charlie') during the Jacobite Rising of 1745. He later earned the hatred of the Jacobites by turning King's evidence.

John Murray was born in Broughton in the Scottish Borders the son of Sir David Murray of Broughton, and Margaret Scott - a family long associated with the Stuart cause. In 1732 he was enrolled in the University of Edinburgh, then in 1735 he travelled to the Dutch University of Leyden. From there he went to the Stuart court-in-exile in Rome, where he became a confidant of Prince Charles. In 1738, he returned to Edinburgh and reacquired the ancestral estate of Broughton (which had been sold to pay family fines for their involvement with the Royalist cause during the Cromwellian period). He married Margaret Ferguson, who became a Jacobite heroine in her own right, by whom he had five children.

Around 1739 he became the conduit between the exiled Prince Charles in Rome and the Jacobites in Scotland. He traveled to Paris in March 1743 on behalf of a number of Highland Jacobites to sound out French support for the Stuart cause - and appears to have been duped by false French assurances, whilst at the same time presenting an exaggerated picture to the French of the support in Scotland. He was in Peeblesshire in August 1745, when Prince Charles arrived in Moidart and raised the Jacobite standard. His first response was to attempt to dissuade Charles from staying, but was subsequently persuaded of his duty to support the Prince. On 25 August he was appointed secretary to Charles, and apparently from that point insisted on being addressed as 'Mr. Secretary Murray'. One of his roles as Secretary was to collect, extort and borrow money for the Prince. But he was also involved in the military endeavor. He was present at the Battle of Prestonpans and, when the Jacobite forces invaded England, he was sent by the Prince to negotiate the surrender of Carlisle. However, he was later among those who fatefully persuaded Charles to halt his march south at Derby, and return to Scotland.

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