Background
He managed the Theatre Royal by the "North Bridge", at first jointly with Henry Siddons (son of Sarah Siddons), then after 1816 on his own.
He managed the Theatre Royal by the "North Bridge", at first jointly with Henry Siddons (son of Sarah Siddons), then after 1816 on his own.
Born in Bath on 26 August 1790, he moved to Edinburgh in 1809 and worked there for over forty years as an actor, manager and dramatist. He was the son of the actor and dramatist Charles Murray, and grandson of the Jacobite Sir John Murray of Broughton who, when captured after the Battle of Culloden, saved his life by betraying his fellow Jacobites then lived out his life in Edinburgh as a haunted and hated figure. 10 June 1818 saw the first performance of Murray"s operatic adaption of Walter Scott"s novel Rob Royal
lieutenant was titled "Rob Roy MacGregor".
When Scott was preparing for the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 he was quick to draw on Murray"s expertise for the management of events. Murray created the settings at various venues, contrived the "revived ancient dresses" and arranged the "traditional" pageants.
He was particularly acclaimed for his success in transforming the Assembly Rooms in George Street into a theatrical palace for the Peers" Grand Ball, an event that was pivotal in making the tartan kilt which had been thought of as the primitive dress of mountain thieves into the national dress of the whole of Scotland. The King"s last and least formal public appearance during the visit to Edinburgh was at a theatre performance of Scott"s Rob Roy adapted and produced by Murray.
He died in Street Andrews on 5 May 1852 and is buried against the eastern wall of Street Andrew"s Cathedral churchyard, backing onto the Eastern Cemetery.