Obituary: John Murray, 11th Duke of Atholl, retired South African surveyor who inherited one of Scotland’s most ancient titles

ALTHOUGH of distant Scots origin, John Murray was a retired South African land surveyor in his mid-60s when he was informed he had inherited one of Scotland’s most ancient titles, Duke of Atholl. That also made him, overnight, chief of the Clan Murray and Colonel-in-Chief of Europe’s only legal private army, the Atholl Highlanders infantry regiment, as well as giving him umpteen other courtesy titles within the Scottish peerage, from Balquhidder to Glenalmond. His son Bruce, also very much a South African, suddenly became Marquess of Tullibardine, the Perthshire area now perhaps best known for its single malt distillery.

Until John Murray took over his new titles in 1996, he had only rarely had a dram and never owned a kilt. Throughout his life, he had thought little, if at all, of the fact that he was a distant (third) cousin of Iain Murray, the tenth Duke of Atholl and chief of Clan Murray who lived in the 13th-century Blair Castle, Perthshire, with its 120,000-acre estate. The South African surveyor knew of the distant relationship and had visited the castle once, in 1994, but the distant family connection was never a factor in his life until the tenth Duke passed away in 1996.

Even after being told he had inherited the historic titles, the 11th Duke continued to live in quiet retirement in a South African mountain village, preferring the South African sun to the damp of Scottish castles. He did, however, visit Scotland once a year to carry out his ceremonial duties.

These included inspecting the annual parade of the Atholl Highlanders, made up of 85 local men and officers, at the family’s historic seat, Blair Castle, before presiding over the traditional Blair Atholl Highland Games in the nearby village.

In full Highland dress, and with his wife, the Duchess Peggy, by his side, he did so every year to the delight of the locals until ill health forced him to miss last year’s gathering. This year’s parade and gathering will go ahead next weekend as planned, with the castle’s flags at half-mast as a sign of respect, and a memorial service added.

Locals hope the new, 12th, Duke, John’s son Bruce, will come over from South Africa to fulfil the traditional role.

Despite all the titles, and the extent of the Atholl estates, the 11th Duke inherited no land. The tenth Duke, affectionately and teasingly dubbed “wee Iain” in the Scottish media because he stood 6’ 5” in his garter-flash stocking soles, had handed the 120-room castle and estates over to a charitable trust a year before he died.

Some say the canny “wee Iain” was miffed that the historic Scottish estate was about to get into the hands of a distant cousin in South Africa who might see it as “a commercial concern, not a home”. John Murray, the 11th Duke, insisted he had never considered turning the estate into a commercial concern but he certainly never got the chance to and it now belongs to the Blair Charitable Trust, with Blair Castle a major tourist attraction and relatives of the 10th Duke among the trustees. It is popular for Highland banquets, balls, weddings and other functions. “I never harboured any aspirations to inherit the estate,” the 11th Duke later said.

“I am happy that the land has gone into a charitable trust. I have a simple lifestyle and will not make myself ridiculous with a title that does not fit my scene. It means nothing in South Africa … I have Scottish blood in my veins, but no Scottish culture … I respect and honour Scotland as the land of my origins, but I would never want to live there. I am a South African, not a Scotsman. My heart and my mind are in this country (South Africa).”

With the castle part of a trust, and open to the public, the popularity of the 11th Duke and Duchess Peggy was such that they were often invited to stay in private homes during their visits to Scotland.

To many Scots historians, and non-Murray clansmen with long memories, the Dukes of Atholl will forever be remembered most for being among the first large landowners to launch the Highland Clearances in the 19th century, evicting crofters and their families in favour of sheep.

It was a legacy difficult to live down thereafter – many Atholl crofters were forced to emigrate to the colonies – but the new South African Duke of the 1990s quickly won over the locals in his historic homeland through his humility and dedication to his ceremonial role.

He pledged to maintain Atholl traditions, notably to retain the Atholl Highlanders, mainly as a tourist attraction. The regiment was founded in 1844 after Queen Victoria, said to have partaken freely of the local whisky, mixed with a fine French claret as was her English wont, gave the Duke of the time a unique licence to form his own private army, one that need not be beholden to the army of Great Britain.

Although the Atholl Highlanders are composed mainly of locals from the Blair Atholl area, the late Duke recently recruited his South African grandson, who held the titles Master of Tullibardine and Earl of Strathtay and Strathardle, into the regiment.

John Murray was born in Johannesburg in 1929, the only child of Major George Murray and Joan Eastwood. His father died in active service during the Second World War, when John was 11 years old.

After gaining a degree in engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, he got his first job as a land surveyor, the career he would follow all his life.

In 1956, he married Margaret “Peggy” Leach, who would become a reflexologist, and they would go on to have three children, including, in 1960, a baby called Bruce.

Who could have imagined that a South African baby called Bruce would one day become the 12th Duke of Atholl, chief of the Clan Murray, colonel-in-chief of the Atholl Highlanders?

“His Grace” (as protocol required him to be addressed) the 11th Duke of Atholl is survived by his wife Margaret (“Peggy”), children Bruce, Craig and Jennifer, and seven grandchildren.

PHIL DAVISON