Charles James Murray

Charles James Murray (29 November 1851 – 25 September 1929) was a British Conservative Party politician and diplomat. Early life He was the son of The Hon. Sir Charles Augustus Murray and his American born wife Elizabeth "Elise" Wadsworth. His parents met while his father was spending several years travelling across Europe and America between 1835 and 1838. His father returned to England in 1838 where his father obtained the position of Master of the Household in the Court of the young Queen Victoria. After being removed from the positions in the Household reforms initiated by Albert, Prince Consort, his father became a diplomat in Naples followed by consul-general in Egypt in 1846. His parents married in December 1850 during one of his father's visits to Scotland. While in Cairo, his mother died after giving birth to him. His father later served as Minister to the Swiss Confederation, and Envoy to the Shah of Persia and the King of Saxony. In 1862, his father remarried to his first cousin once removed Hon. Edith Susan Esther Fitzpatrick (a daughter of John Fitzpatrick, 1st Baron Castletown). From this marriage, Charles had a much younger half-brother, Cecil Henry Alexander Murray. His paternal grandparents were George Murray, 5th Earl of Dunmore and the former Lady Susan Hamilton (a daughter of Archibald Hamilton, 9th Duke of Hamilton). His paternal uncle was Alexander Murray, 6th Earl of Dunmore and among his paternal cousins were Lady Susan Catherine Mary Murray (wife of James Carnegie, 9th Earl of Southesk), Lady Constance Euphemia Woronzow Murray (wife of William Elphinstone, 15th Lord Elphinstone), and Charles Murray, 7th Earl of Dunmore. His maternal grandparents were prominent landowner and businessman James Wadsworth. His maternal uncle, James S. Wadsworth, was a Union Army General during the American Civil War. Among his American cousins were Cornelia Wadsworth Adair (who married Scots-Irish businessman John George Adair and became matriarch of Glenveagh Castle in County Donegal, Ireland), U.S. Representative James Wolcott Wadsworth, and Elizabeth Wadsworth, who married Arthur Smith-Barry (later Baron Barrymore).