Murray, John, fourth Earl of Dunmore, last colonial governor of Virginia (1771-1775), was born in 1732, eldest son of William Murray, third Earl of Dunmore, and Catherine Nairne his wife. He was descended on his mother's side from the royal house of Stuart, succeeded to the peerage, and during 1761-69 sat in the house of lords. In January, 1770, he was appointed governor of the colony of New York, and in July, 1771, governor of Virginia. He arrived in "Williamsburg in October, 1771, where he was received with the usual courtesies and congratulations. The controversy with the mother country had lost its rancour after the repeal to all the taxes except that on tea, but the King, by instructions to his governors, managed to affront all the colonies on different issues. The public sentiment in Virginia particular condemned the order which restrained the governors from approving any restriction of the slave trade, and when the assembly, pursuant to a summons from Dunmore met in February, 1772, a noble protest was adopted by that body. Dunmore prorogued the house, and he did not again convene it till March, 1773. In the meantime, a government revenue cutter called the Gaspée, which had been rigorously enforcing the navigation laws in Narragansett Bay, was boarded at night by some disguised men and set on fire. the King was much exasperated, and he created a board of enquiry, who were directed to find out the guilty parties and sent them to England for trial. The issue was once more met by Virginia. the assembly adopted resolutions at its meeting in March, 1773, denouncing this attempt to ignore the right of a trial by a jury of the vicinage, and recommending a system of intercolonial committees, which proved the first direct step towards a general and permanent union. Immediately after this act Lord Dunmore dissolved the assembly. The effect of the action of Virginia was to demoralize the court of enquiry, and in their report they conceded that the commander of the Gaspée, in detaining vessels indiscriminately, had exceeded the bounds of his duty, and no arrests were made. This affair not turning out to the satisfaction of the British government, another attempt was made to enforce the tax on tea in America by removing the tax in England. This occasioned the affair of the "tea party," which occurred in boston on December 16, 1773, when a band of men disguised as Indians boarded the ships sent to Boston by the East India Company and threw the tea overboard. Parliament in resentment, passed an act to close the Port of Boston, on June 1, 1774 — a measure which involved the innocent with the guilty. Virginia again showed her leadership, and was first of all of the colonies to declare her sympathy with Massachusetts. Dunmore prorogued the assembly May 27, 1774, and thereupon the burgesses, meeting in the Raleigh tavern, adopted resolutions calling for an annual congress and non-intercourse. Accordingly on September 5, 1774, the first general congress met in Philadelphia and recommenced a general continental plan of non-intercourse, and committees every where to see it enforced. About this time a war with the Shawnees on the Ohio broke out, and Andrew Lewis won the great battle of Point Pleasant. Dunmore gained applause from the Virginians for his willingness to head the troops, but he was afterwards charged, without much reason, with being the real author of the Indian war. The British government now placed the trade with most of the colonies under a boycott, and orders were sent over to the governors to seize all the ammunition and arms accessible to the colonists.
Governor Gage in Massachusetts sent troops to destroy the ammunition at Concord, and on the march thither they became engaged April 19, 1775, with the Massachusetts militia at Lexington, where the first blood was shed. In Virginia, by order of Governor Dunmore, the powder was removed from the magazine in Williamsburg on April 20. This created great alarm, and an armed body of men under Patrick Henry marched down to Williamsburg. They were quieted by the governor giving a bill of exchange for the value of the powder. Succeeding this, Dunmore called a meeting of the assembly to submit the overture known as Lord North's "Olive Branch." But before any answer could be returned from the assembly, Dunmore, fearing that he might be seized and detained as a hostage, fled from the palace to the protection of a British man-of-war in York river. Dunmore took up his headquarters near Norfolk, which was burned in the civil war that now began. Dunmore proclaimed freedom to all negroes and servants who would join his standard, and carried on a predatory maritime warfare, but after suffering various reverses at Great Bridge, Hampton and Gwynn's Island, he dismissed his ships, joined the British naval force in New York, and towards the end of the year 1776 sailed away to England. His furniture and books in the palace were confiscated by the State and sold at public outcry. He had been elected in January, 1776, to the house of lords, and on his return to "England took his seat and served till 1784. In 1787 he was appointed governor of Barbadoes, and served till 1796. He died at Ramsgate, England, in May, 1809. He was a man of culture, and possessed a large and valuable library; and while he has been represented in America as rude in his deportment and treacherous in his conduct, his friends praise him for the noble and admirable traits of character, which they attribute to him. The Tories who had to fly from Virginia during the war, abandoning everything except loyalty to their King, found in him a real haven of refuge in London. His home and money were at their service. He married February 21, 1759, Lady Charlotte Stewart, sixth daughter of Alexander, sixth earl of Gallway. Late in April, 1774, he was joined at Williamsburg by his wife and children, George Lord Fincastle, the Honorables Alexander and John Murray, and Ladies Catherine, Augusta and Susan Murray. To these were added another daughter born in the colony, and named in its honor Virginia. The three young noblemen were put to school at the College. In 1834 Charles Murray, a grandson of Lord Dunmore, visited Virginia, and afterwards published an account of his travels.
