Murray family, Earls of Mansfield

Sir Andrew Murray, second son of Sir William Murray (d. c.1459) of Tullibardine (Perthshire), was granted Crown leases of Letter Bannachty in Strathearn (Perthshire) from 1491 and a feu of these lands in 1510. Arngask (Fife, Kinross-shire and Perthshire) and Balvaird and Kippo (Fife) were brought by his wife Margaret Barclay, granddaughter and heir of James Barclay of Kippo and heir of Henry de Freslay of Arngask and Fargy. Sir David Murray, second son of Sir Andrew Murray (d. 1572) of Balvaird, was created Lord Scone 1604 and Viscount Stormont 1621, the site and lands of the dissolved monastery of Scone (Perthshire) having been granted him following the fall of the 3rd Earl of Gowrie (d. 1600). In 1624 he inherited the estates of his nephew Sir Andrew Murray of Balvaird and Arngask. Following his death in 1631, the 1st Viscount was succeeded through special entail in turn by Sir Mungo Murray (d. 1642) of Drumcairn (Fife), James Murray, 2nd Earl of Annandale (d. 1658), and David Murray, 2nd Baron Balvaird and 4th Viscount Stormont. The 4th Viscount (d. 1668) acquired property by marriage with the widow of the 2nd Earl of Annandale. This comprised the ancestral Dumfriesshire estates of the Murray Earls of Annandale (Cockpool, Comlongon, etc) and a portion of the extensive acquisitions of the 1st Earl of Annadale (d. 1640, so created 1624) in Dumfriesshire (Lochmaben, etc) and County Donegal, the latter soon alienated. (Other property of the 1st Earl in Fife, East Lothian and elsewhere, however, was sold and did not pass to the fourth Viscount.)

The 7th Viscount (d. 1796) succeeded to the estates and titles of his uncle William Murray (1705-93), Lord Chief Justice, created Earl of Mansfield in 1776, who had purchased Kenwood (Middlesex) from the third Earl of Bute in 1754 and also acquired property in Cheshire (Anderton) and Derbyshire (Bradbourne). Schaw Park in Alloa (Clackmannanshire) was bought by the 7th Viscount and 2nd Earl from his brother-in-law the 10th Baron Cathcart in 1799. Later Perthshire acquisitions included the former Graham estate of Lynedoch and the Drummond-Stewart estate of Logiealmond. Colston Bassett (Nottinghamshire) was acquired by the 3rd Earl in 1838, but was apparently sold soon afterwards. Properties in Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire, including an estate purchased in 1797 from Lord Cawdor, were also disposed of before 1883. Kenwood was sold in 1920-25 and Schaw Park in 1922.

Estates in 1883: Perthshire 31,197 acres, Dumfriesshire 14,342 acres, Clackmannanshire 1,705 acres, Fife 795 acres, Middlesex 539 acres, Derbyshire 250 acres, Cheshire 224 acres, Cumberland 22 acres, total 49,074 acres worth £42,968 a year, exclusive of Clackmannanshire minerals worth £1,886 a year.