Sir Charles Augustus Murray PC KCB (22 November 1806 – 3 June 1895) was a British author and diplomat.

Early life

Murray was the second of three sons born to

George Murray, 5th Earl of Dunmore George Murray, 5th Earl of Dunmore FRSE (30 April 1762 – 11 November 1836), known as Viscount of Fincastle until 1809, was a Scottish peer. Early life Murray was the eldest son of John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, and Lady Charlotte (née S ...

, and the former Lady Susan Hamilton. His elder brother was Alexander Murray, 6th Earl of Dunmore who married Lady Catherine Herbert (daughter of the 11th Earl of Pembroke). His younger brother was the Hon. Henry Anthony Murray, a

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, who died unmarried. His paternal grandparents were the former Lady Charlotte Stewart (a daughter of Alexander Stewart, 6th Earl of Galloway) and

John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore (1730 – 25 February 1809) was a British colonial administrator who served as the List of colonial governors of Virginia, governor of Virginia from 1771 to 1775. Dunmore was named List of colonial governors of ...

, the former colonial governor of the

Province of New York The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. His aunt,

Lady Augusta Murray Lady Augusta De Ameland (''born'' Murray; 27 January 1761 – 4 March 1830) was a Scottish aristocrat and the first wife of Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, the sixth son of George III. They married on 4 April 1793 in Rome. Their unio ...

, married Prince Augustus Frederick, a younger son of King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

. His maternal grandparents were

Archibald Hamilton, 9th Duke of Hamilton Archibald Hamilton, 9th Duke of Hamilton and 6th Duke of Brandon (15 July 1740 – 16 February 1819) was a Scottish peer and politician. Background and education Hamilton was the second son of the 5th Duke of Hamilton, by his third wife, An ...

and the former Lady Harriet Stewart (a daughter of Alexander Stewart, 6th Earl of Galloway). Among his maternal relatives were aunts Lady Anne Hamilton (lady-in-waiting to Queen Caroline), and Lady Charlotte Hamilton (wife of the 11th Duke of Somerset) and uncles, Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton and

Lord Archibald Hamilton Lord Archibald Hamilton (1673 – 5 April 1754) was a Royal Navy officer, nobleman and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain, House of Commons from 1708 to 1747. In the 1690's, he was ...

. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is Colleges of the University of Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title for ...

, where he matriculated in 1824, and graduated B.A. in 1827. Murray spent several years travelling across Europe and America from 1835 and 1838, including several months with a

Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language: * Pawnee people * Pawnee language Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States: * Pawnee, Illinois * Pawnee, Kansas * Pawnee, Missouri * Pawnee City, Nebraska * ...

tribe in 1835. He described his experiences in his popular book ''Travels in North America'' (1839). There he fell in love with Elizabeth "Elise" Wadsworth, a daughter of New York landowner James Wadsworth who disapproved of the match. He attempted to remain in the United States as Secretary of the British

Legation A legation was a diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an ambassador, a legation was headed by a minister. Ambassadors outranked ministers and had precedence at official events. Legation ...

, but failed to obtain the position. He returned to England, and wrote of his experiences in a novel, ''The Prairie-Bird'' (1844).

Career

On three occasions Murray stood as a Member of Parliament, but was unsuccessful each time. He obtained a position, from 1838 to 1844, as Master of the Household and Extra Groom in Waiting in the Court of the young

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. He was removed in the Household reforms initiated by

Albert, Prince Consort Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Franz August Karl Albert Emanuel; 26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the husband of Queen Victoria. As such, he was consort of the British monarch from their marriage on 10 February 1840 until his ...

Diplomatic career

Murray then became a diplomat, serving first as Secretary of the Legation in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. He was consul-general in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

from 1846 to 1853, on good terms with the Ottoman Viceroy, Mehmet Ali Pasha. While stationed there, he arranged the transport of Obaysch the

hippopotamus The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...

to England in 1850. Obaysch was the first hippopotamus in England since prehistoric times, and the first in Europe since Roman times. For this later feat, and his clear affection for the beast at

London Zoo London Zoo, previously known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens and sometimes called Regent's Park Zoo, is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828 and was originally intended to be used as a colle ...

, he was nicknamed "Hippopotamus Murray". He also pushed forward the construction of the railway to

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

. From 1853, Murray was for one year Minister Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Confederation in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

. He was then appointed British

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

to the Court of the Shah of Persia in 1854. The Shah, Nasser al-Din Shah, and Murray disliked each other immediately. Murray's heavy-handed attitude inflamed an existing dispute over Hashim Khan, one of the Shah's bodyguards and an officer in the Persian army, who took up a position as secretary in the British embassy against the wishes of the Shah and his prime minister. Hashim Khan's wife was the subject of widespread gossip relating to Murray and his predecessor as ambassador; she was also a sister of the Shah's principal wife, so the scandal was political dynamite. Hashim Khan's wife was taken into custody by her brother on 14 November 1855, to defend her honour. Murray took this as an insult to the British legation; after demanding her release, Murray broke off diplomatic relations on 20 November. Anglo-Persian relations were already strained as the young Shah sought to annex the city of

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

, a goal which had eluded the

Qajar dynasty The Qajar family (; 1789–1925) was an Iranian royal family founded by Mohammad Khan (), a member of the Qoyunlu clan of the Turkoman-descended Qajar tribe. The dynasty's effective rule in Iran ended in 1925 when Iran's '' Majlis'', conven ...

previously; and Britain for its part sought to deny such control, lest the city, considered the "Key to India," fall under the influence of Persia's patron,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Murray's departure marked a break in Anglo-Persian relations and thus contributed to the outbreak of the

Anglo-Persian War The Anglo-Persian War, also known as the Anglo-Iranian War (), was a war fought between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and Qajar Iran, Iran, which was ruled by the Qajar dynasty. The war had the British oppose a ...

of 1856/7. After the war, Murray remained ambassador until 1859. In 1859, he became

Envoy Envoy or Envoys may refer to: Diplomacy * Diplomacy, in general * Envoy (title) * Special envoy, a type of Diplomatic rank#Special envoy, diplomatic rank Brands *Airspeed Envoy, a 1930s British light transport aircraft *Envoy (automobile), an au ...

to the King of Saxony, serving until 1866 when he became

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

from 1866 to 1874. Upon his return to the United Kingdom, he became a member of the Privy Council in 1875.

Personal life

After Elizabeth Wadsworth's father James Wadsworth died in 1844, Murray married Elise on 12 December 1850 during a visit to Scotland while he was counsel-general in Cairo. After they married, the couple returned to Egypt together. She died on 8 December 1851 shortly after giving birth to their only child: * Charles James Murray (1851–1929), a Conservative Party politician and diplomat who married Lady Anne Francesca Wilhelmina Finch, the only daughter of Heneage Finch, 6th Earl of Aylesford. Murray married a second time, on 1 November 1862, to his first cousin once removed the Honourable Edith Susan Esther FitzPatrick, daughter of

John FitzPatrick, 1st Baron Castletown John Wilson FitzPatrick, 1st Baron Castletown PC (born John Wilson; 24 September 1809 – 22 January 1883) was an Anglo-Irish Liberal politician. Early life and education Castletown, baptised John Wilson, was born in London, the illegitima ...

and the former Augusta Mary Douglas (the daughter of Rev. Archibald Douglas and Murray's aunt, Lady Susan Murray). From his second marriage, he was a father of: * Cecil Henry Alexander Murray (1866–1896), who died at sea on 3 June 1896 at age 30. Sir Charles died on 3 June 1895. His widow lived nearly another decade until her death on 1 December 1906.Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

, U.S.A.:

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

(Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. pp. 1233.

References

External links

* *
''My wife, please?''
on the causes of the

of 1856
Hon Sir Charles Augustus Murray
at

The British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

Murray, Sir Charles Augustus (1806-1895) Knight, diplomat and author
at

The National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Charles Augustus 1806 births 1895 deaths

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

Younger sons of earls People educated at Eton College Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Masters of the Household British people of the Anglo-Persian War Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Iran Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Portugal Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Switzerland Presidents of the Oxford Union Wadsworth family