James Pulteney

Born James Murray, he was the eldest son of Colonel Sir Robert Murray, 6th Baronet and his first wife Janet Murray, a younger sister of Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Elibank. Murray succeeded his father as baronet in 1771, while still a minor. He was educated at Westminster School and joined then the British Army. ==Military career==

Murray had had his first commission purchased in his mid-teens, as lieutenant in the 19th Regiment of Foot in 1770. In 1808 he became a full general. ==Political career==

In 1790, he entered the British House of Commons, sitting as a member of parliament (MP) for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis until his death in 1811. Murray-Pulteney was sworn of the privy council in 1807, when he became Secretary at War, a post he held for two years. ==Family and death==

On 24 July 1794, he married Henriette Laura Pulteney, 1st Baroness Bath, daughter of his cousin Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet in Bath House, London. Two days before he had by Royal Licence assumed the surname Pulteney as a condition of his wife becoming the heir to her father's fortune. Henrietta was raised to a countess in her own right in 1803 and inherited the estates of her father in 1805, worth about £50,000 per year. She predeceased her husband in 1808 and Murray survived her for three years, dying in Buckenham in Norfolk, from complications after losing an eye when a powder flask accidentally exploded in his face. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his halfbrother John. ==References==