Murray was born in
Douglas, Isle of Man in around 1714. In 1748, he married Bridget Milbanke, the widow of Sir Butler Cavendish Wentworth. On 9 August 1754 he took up position as the British
resident minister in the
Republic of Venice. He gained a reputation for profligacy and rakish behaviour;
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu stated that Murray was "not to be trusted" and was "despised by this Government [Venetian] for his smuggling... and always surrounded with pimps and brokers". While in Venice he accumulated a sizable collection of pictures, including paintings by
Titian and other masters of the
Venetian school. He was a friend of Casanova who remarked that Murray, "by jumping from one to another, he always had the prettiest girls in Venice". He was appointed on 15 November 1765 as British Ambassador to the
Ottoman Empire, leaving Venice on 11 May 1666 and arriving at
Constantinople on 2 June 1766. Ten years later he was given leave to return home, leaving
Turkey on 27 January 1775. He sailed home on 25 May 1775 but died during a stop-over in Venice on 9 August 1775. He was buried in the Protestant cemetery on the
Venice Lido. ==References==