JAMES MURRAY (1740-74)

Soldier who was military and civilian governor of Quebec from 1760 to 1768.

Murray joined the army in 1740 as a lieutenant colonel during the Seven Years´ War, in 1758 he commanded a brigade during the successful British siege of Louisbourg in what is now Nova Scotia under Lord Amherst.

He was one of Gen. James Wolfe´s three brigadiers in the British expedition against Quebec in 1759. After the British captured the city Murray was made its military governor. When the French capitulated in 1760 he became military governor of Quebec district. He became the first civil governor of Quebec after its formal cession to Great Britain in 1763.

As governor he opposed repressive measures against French-Canadians and his conciliatory policy led to charges against him of partiality. Although exonerated he left his post in 1768 and was appointed governor of Minorca in 1774.

He surredered to French and Spanish troops there in 1782 for which he was court-martialled in England. After being acquitted he was made a general.