THE SOUTH AFRICAN DUKES OF ATHOLL

The 11th Duke of Atholl, John MURRAY, was born in South Africa on 09 January 1929. He died in Limpopo Province on 15 May 2012, aged 83, after suffering a stroke. He was a South African land surveyor, who inherited one of Scotland’s grandest titles in 1996. From 1786 to 1957 the Dukes of Atholl sat in the House of Lords as Earl Strange. The dukedom was conferred by Queen Anne in 1703 on the 2nd Marquess of Atholl.

Duke of Atholl Coat-of-Arms

1) John MURRAY, 1st Duke, born 1660, died 1724, eldest son of the 1st Marquess. He was a politician and soldier, and fought in the Glorious Revolution for William III and Mary II.
1.1) John MURRAY born 1684, died 1709, eldest son of the 1st Duke, died unmarried.
1.2) William MURRAY born 1689, died 1746, second son of the 1st Duke, was a Jacobite who was attainted and executed, unmarried, for treason, excluded from the succession.
1.3) James MURRAY, 2nd Duke, born 1690, died 1764, third son of the 1st Duke.
1.4) Lord Charles MURRAY born 1691, died 1720, fourth son of the 1st Duke, died without issue.
1.5) Lt.-Gen. Lord George MURRAY, attainted Jacobite, fifth son of the 1st Duke.

1.3) James MURRAY, 2nd Duke, born 1690, died 1764, third son of the 1st Duke.
1.3.1) John MURRAY born 1728, died 1729, eldest son of the 2nd Duke.
1.3.2) James MURRAY born 1735, died 1736, second and youngest son of the 2nd Duke.

1.5.1) John MURRAY, 3rd Duke, born 1729, died 1774.

1.5.1.1) John Murray, 4th Duke, born 1755, died 1830, eldest son of the 3rd Duke.

1.5.1.1.1) John MURRAY, 5th Duke, born 1778, died 1846, eldest son of the 4th Duke, died unmarried, title to his nephew.

2) George MURRAY, 6th Duke, born 1814, died 1864, eldest son of James MURRAY 1st Baron Glenlyon.

2.1) John James Hugh Henry STEWART-MURRAY, 7th Duke, born 1840, died 1917, only son of the 6th Duke. He devoted many years to editing the records of the family's history.
2.1.1) John STEWART-MURRAY born 1869, died 1869, eldest son of the 7th Duke.
2.1.2) John George STEWART-MURRAY, 8th Duke, born 1871, died 1942.
2.1.3) Major Lord George STEWART-MURRAY born 1873, died 1914, died without issue.
2.1.4) James Thomas STEWART-MURRAY, 9th Duke, born 1879, died 1957, died unmarried.

2.1.2)John George STEWART-MURRAY, 8th Duke, born 1871, died 1942, second son of the 7th Duke, married Katharine Marjorie (the Red Duchess). With honorary degrees from Oxford, McGill, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Durham and Columbia Universities, she was the first woman ever to have held office as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education from 1924 until 1929 in a Conservative administration. The 8th Duke died without issue.

2.1.4)James STEWART-MURRAY, 9th Duke, born 1879, died 1957, fourth and youngest son of the 7th Duke, died unmarried and without issue.

3) George Iain MURRAY, 10th Duke, born 19 June 1931 in Edinburgh, died 28 February 1996 in Perthshire. He had suffered a stroke at Blair Castle. Son of Lt- Col George Anthony MURRAY, who was the son of Sir George Evelyn Pemberton MURRAY, a distinguished civil servant and great-grandson of the Rev George Edward MURRAY and great-great-great-grandson of the Right Rev Lord George MURRAY (second son of the 3rd Duke). The 10th Duke died unmarried. Title to his third cousin, another descendant of the 3rd Duke.

4) John MURRAY, 11th Duke, born 1929 in South Africa, died 2012 in South Africa.

4.2) Bruce George Ronald MURRAY, 12th Duke, born 1960 in South Africa, eldest son of the 11th Duke.

Blair Castle

The family estate since 1269 is Blair Atholl, a 13th-century castle set in 120,000 acres on the Strath of Garry. The 10th Duke was devoted to the family estate, and revived the family’s private army, the Atholl Highlanders, composed of friends and estate workers. In 1844, after a visit to Blair Atholl, Queen Victoria granted the Atholls the privilege of having their own army. Descendants of the Murrays provided a guard of honour during her visit, and in recognition, she granted colours to the regiment and the right to bear arms.

Cap badge of the Atholl Highlanders

The regiment has roots back to 1777, when it was raised for service in America. Before the regiment could leave, the war ended, and in 1783 they were disbanded. In 1842 and 1844, Queen Victoria visited Scotland and the regiment provided the Guards of Honour. The original colours were presented by Lady Glenlyon on behalf of Queen Victoria on 04 September 1845. Therafter, the Atholl Highlanders took part in regimental parades and in the Braemar Games. After the First World War, these parades fell away and the regiment was mostly seen when the pipers performed on special occasions. In 1966, the 10th Duke decided to revive the regiment and to hold annual parades. The regiment grew to 100 members. Soldiers are mainly local residents, although the officers are recruited by invitation from the Duke. The annual parade is held during the last week of May at Blair Castle. The Braemar Games is an annual event, with the Queen as patron. The Atholl Highlanders march from Blair Castle to Braemar, a distance of about 40km. This march was first done in 1845 and five times until 1873. The regiment then took a break for 100 years, before continuing the tradition in1973. The last time the march was held, was in 1982. In 2011 the march involved presenting the regimental and royal colours to Queen Elizabeth. It was also the first time that the Marquis of Tullibardine (now the 12th Duke) took command of the Atholl Highlanders. His sons, Michael and David, were also on parade, each co-commanding half a company. They live and work in London. In early 2012, the now 12th Duke joined the regiment on their visit to the town of Athol in Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA. The regiment was invited to take part in a parade to celebrate the town’s 250th anniversary. After the visit, the regiment visited Bermuda, at the invitation of the Governor.

Blair Atholl and its castle became one of Britain's most popular tourist attractions, drawing some 165,000 paying visitors a year, under the 10th Duke's guidance. When he became Duke, he was a junior manager in a family printing business. At the age of 10 years, Iain's father died in Italy as the commanding officer of the Scottish Horse. Iain attended Eton at the time. Unable to do National Service due to medical reasons, he attended Christ Church, Oxford, followed by work in the printing businesses owned by his maternal grandfather, the second Viscount Cowdray. As 10th Duke, he was survived by his half-sister, Sarah TROUGHTON and her son Robert.

The 11th Duke, during his only visit to Blair Atholl, in 1994 before the 10th Duke's death, made it clear that he had no wish to leave the sunshine of South Africa for the cold and damp of Scotland. He also stated that he did not own a kilt and rarely drank whisky. At the time he was a retired land surveyor, and his connection to the 10th Duke had only recently been discovered. The 10th Duke, 6ft 5in tall and known as Wee Iain, died a day after it was announced that he had placed the 120-room castle and estate into a charitable trust, the Blair Charitable Trust. This would save millions in inheritance taxes and guarantee that the historic property will remain under Scottish control. The new Duke therefore acquired no land with the title, and was happy that the land had gone into a charitable trust. Shortly after his predecessor’s death, he wrote to the Trust suggesting the 85-strong Atholl Highlanders be retained and that a committee of senior officers take over its running. The Duke continued to live a modest life in South Africa, and visited Blair Atholl almost every year to inspect the Atholl Highlanders Parade. His last visit was in 2010, after which ill-health kept him from visiting Scotland.

John MURRAY, 11th Duke of Atholl

John MURRAY was the only son of Major George MURRAY (born 20 Nov 1884 in Blithfield, Staffordshire, died 21 Jun 1940) and his wife Joan EASTWOOD (daughter of William Edward EASTWOOD, born 23 Jun 1902 in Johannesburg) who married on 17 January 1928 in Seaford, East Sussex. His father survived the Battle of the Somme in World War 1 but was killed in action in 1940. John was the grandson of Rev. Douglas Stuart MURRAY, Rector of Blithfield, Staffordshire, who was the grandson of the Right Rev. George MURRAY, who was the son of the Right Rev. Lord George Murray, the second son of the 3rd Duke. John grew up in the mountains of The Downs, in the Wolkberg, where his parents nurtured his love of nature. He attended primary school in Parktown and completed his high school years at Michaelhouse. His own military background was brief, a three-month stint in the Grahamstown Regiment. He took a degree in Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand and became a land surveyor. He lived for much of his life in a modest home in the small two-street village of Haernertsburg, near Tzaneen, where he owned a business which made paper from elephant dung. On 15 December 1956 he married Margaret (Peggy) Yvonne LEACH, a reflexologist, in Pretoria. She was the only daughter of Ronald Leonard LEACH and Faith KLEINENBERG, and was born on 08 July 1935 in Louis Trichardt. John and Peggy had three children:

4.1) Lady Jennifer MURRAY born 08 February 1958 in Louis Trichardt, married firstly Iain PURDON in 1979 (divorced 1985) and secondly Martin GLODEK in 1995. By her first husband she has two children:
4.1.1) Grant Clive PURDON (born 1980)
4.1.2) Charlene PURDON (born 1982)
Jennifer and her husband own the local pub in Haenertsburg.

4.2) Bruce George Ronald MURRAY born 06 April 1960 in Louis Trichardt, married Lynne Elizabeth ANDREW in 1984 in Johannesburg (daughter of Nicholas ANDREW and Evelyn Donne DE VILLIERS, born on 07 June 1963 in Johannesburg) They have three children:
4.2.1) Michael Bruce John MURRAY, Marquess of Tullibardine, born 05 March 1985 in Louis Trichardt, studied sports science at the University of Pretoria.
4.2.2) Lord David Nicholas George MURRAY born 31 January 1986 in Louis Trichardt.
4.2.3) Lady Nicole MURRAY born 11 July 1987 in Duiwelskloof, married to Peter PIEK.

Bruce and Lynne divorced in 2003. He married Charmaine Myrna DU TOIT in 2009.

4.3) Lord Craig John MURRAY born on 05 June 1963 in Louis Trichardt, married Inge BAKKER in 1988 (daughter of Auke BAKKER of Bedfordview). They have two children:
4.3.1) Carl (born 1993)
4.3.2) Shona (born 1995)

The Duke's eldest son and heir apparent uses the courtesy title Marquess of Tullibardine. The 11th Duke was succeeded by his elder son, Bruce George Ronald, who was born in 1960. The 11th Duke's black-and-yellow flag, tunic and sporran, as well as photographs and other Scottish memorabilia, now adorn the wall of a pub in Haenertsburg.

The 12th Duke and HRH Prince Michael of Kent at the Atholl Highlanders Parade at Blair Castle on 26 May 2012

Bruce runs a signage business, Stamp and Sign Shop, in Louis Trichardt. He is now also the Colonel-in-Chief of the 100-strong Atholl Highlanders, the only private army in Europe. He is also a volunteer member of the Transvaal Scottish Regiment. The regimental tartan is the Murray of Atholl and is worn by the drummers, the pipers wear the Murray of Tullibardine. Both tartans symbolise the regiment's connections to the Duke of Atholl. Shortly after his father's death, Bruce had to fly to Scotland for the annual inspection of the regiment and the traditional opening of the Atholl Gathering and Highland Games. Bruce matriculated at Jeppe Boys' High in Johannesburg and studied forestry at the Saasveld Forestry College in George. He did two years military service in South Africa. He was commissioned into the Atholl Highlanders in 2000, being appointed as Lieutenant-Colonel. The heir apparent is the Bruce's eldest son, Michael Bruce John MURRAY, Marquess of Tullibardine. Bruce's mother is now known as the Dowager Duchess of Atholl. The Duke is referred to as His Grace by reference, and Your Grace in spoken style with Sir as alternative.