(Redirected from Charlotte Murray, 8th Baroness Strange)'Charlotte Murray, Duchess of Atholl' and '8th Baroness Strange' (
13 October 1731–
13 October 1805) was a
Scottish peeress.
Born Lady Charlotte Murray, she was the daughter of the
2nd Duke of Atholl. On
23 October 1753, she married her first cousin,
John Murray at
Dunkeld,
Scotland. They had nine children.
On
8 January 1764, Charlotte's father died. Her husband, John, should have been heir to the dukedom, which was only able to descend through the male line; but he was ineligible since his father had fought in the
Jacobite Rising and consequently been
attainted in the blood. Charlotte, however, had succeeded to her father's title of
Baron Strange (which could descend through the female line) and consequently held a higher position in society than her husband. Thus, just less than a month later on
7 February 1764, the
House of Lords deemed John as the rightful heir to his uncle's title (notwithstanding the attainder of his father) and he succeed him as 3rd Duke of Atholl, whereupon Charlotte became Duchess of Atholl. Charlotte had also inherited the sovereignty of the
Isle of Man from her father on his death but sold it to the
British government in
1765 for
£70,000 and an annuity of £2,000 per year (£5,235,000 and £150,000 respectively, in early-
2000s)
[1].
The duchess died in
1805, aged 74 at
Barochey House, near
Glasgow and was buried at
Dunkeld.