The British general James Murray (1721-1794) came to prominence during the campaigns against the French in North America. After the fall of Quebec, he became its first English military governor and then its first civil governor.

James Murray was born on Jan. 21, 1721, at Ballencrief, Scotland. He was the fifth son of Alexander, the 4th Lord Elibank. In 1740 Murray was appointed a second lieutenant in Wynyard's Marines and served subsequently in the West Indies, Flanders, and Brittany and at the defense of Ostend in 1745. He took part in the Rochfort expedition of 1757 and commanded a brigade during the successful siege of Louisbourg, Cape Breton, in 1758.

At the decisive battle of the Plains of Abraham near old Quebec on Sept. 13, 1759, Murray commanded the left wing of the British army. After the death of James Wolfe and the French surrender of the garrison, he was put in charge with 4,000 troops under...