tournament outfit. David was educated at St Salvator's College at
St Andrews University, but did not graduate as Master of Arts. Before
James VI of Scotland became King of England, David Murray was a servant of Prince Henry at
Stirling Castle. Murray went to the Netherlands in September 1600 carrying a letter of recommendation from his six-year-old master. His yearly fee of 600
marks Scots as a Gentleman of the Prince's Bedchamber was fixed 30 June 1602, by the order of the
Privy Council of Scotland. His portrait was painted in 1603 and is now displayed in the
Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
Courtier in London After the
Union of the Crowns, Prince Henry and his household arrived in London at the end of June 1603. David Murray rented a lodging in a tower at the
Savoy. He received a "free gift" of £200 from the exchequer. In England, Murray was the keeper of the Prince's privy purse, managing a yearly allowance of 1,000
marks. He made payments to artists and craftsmen who worked for Prince Henry including the painter
Robert Peake, the ship-designer
Phineas Pett, the architect
Inigo Jones, and the Edinburgh jeweller
George Heriot. He became the Prince's
Groom of the Stole, Gentleman of the Robes and Master of the Wardrobe. He was knighted as Sir David Murray of Gorthy at
Greenwich Palace on 18 May 1605. John Hawkins wrote that Murray was "the only man in whom he (Prince Henry) had put choise trust". In August 1605 Murray wrote from
Nonsuch Palace to the Earl of Salisbury, mentioning that Prince Henry had stayed for three days while hunting at the house of
Sir Robert Wroth, (either the father-in-law or husband of the poet
Lady Mary Wroth). King James stayed with Sir Robert Wroth at
Loughton in July 1605. When
Arbella Stuart wrote to Prince Henry on 18 October 1605, she mentioned that David Murray and
Adam Newton would be her intercessors in her suit to the Prince for aid. Adam Newton of
Charlton was the Prince's tutor, and effective head of his household. Murray installed a model of a ship made by
Phineas Pett for the Prince in a private room in the long gallery at
Richmond Palace in November 1607. In 1609, Murray laid out £1,986 for pearls bought in London for the Prince's costume during the Christmas festivities and the
Barriers tournament. In March 1610, Murray organised for
Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, to show some pictures to the Prince, with the assistance of the
Earl of Arundel. The historian
Roy Strong see this incident as part of the inception of the Prince's interest in European fine-art, and Murray's responsibilities came to include the Prince's
cabinet of curiosities of medals and coins. In Scotland, David's younger brother, John Murray, Minister of
Leith, was imprisoned in
Edinburgh Castle in 1608 for a Presbyterian sermon, and banished to
Nithsdale. In 1612,
William Cecil, Lord Roos, wrote to David Murray that as a
Puritan himself he had objected to the proposal for the Prince to marry the Catholic infanta Maria, daughter of
Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy. Roos pointed out that if the marriage went ahead Murray would be in disfavour. A marriage with the
Medici was also proposed. As part of these marriage negotiations
Cosimo II de' Medici had sent to Prince Henry a gift of statuettes by
Giambologna. Murray accompanied the Prince in the Long Gallery at Richmond when he received these gifts on 26 June 1612. While Prince Henry was in his final illness and delirious, according to the account of
Charles Cornwallis, on 5 November 1612, the anniversary of the
Gunpowder Plot, it was noted that he called out, "David, David, David." When Murray came to Prince's bedside he only said, "I would say somewhat, but I cannot utter it." Finally Henry asked Murray to burn some letters kept in a cabinet in his closet. At the Prince's funeral, Murray rode in the chariot that served as a hearse, at the Prince's feet as Master of his Wardrobe. David Murray helped Thomas Russell secure a patent to make brimstone and
copperas before 1610. Murray subsequently invested in the copperas project with Russell before July 1610, but felt he was cheated or cozened by May 1617 when he asked for a re-grant. In the summer of 1615, David Murray received part payment of the sum of £10,022 fourteen shillings threepence halfpenny owed to him for his expenses as keeper of the Prince's wardrobe and privy purse. In 1617, he was owed a further £3,000. The
Earl of Suffolk and Sir
Arthur Ingram convinced him to settle for £2,000, keeping the balance. The transaction was brought up at Suffolk's trial for corruption. ==David Murray's poetry==