In St Cuthbert's Churchyard there is a monument inscribed to the memory of William Murray, glover, who died in Kirkcudbright 23rd January 1776, aged 75,and his wife Sarah Galloway, who died there 17th January 1790, aged 84. The stone records several members of the family, including its erector, Doctor Patrick Murray, "Physician General and Judge of the Grand Court in the Island of Jamaica."The following snippet, taken from "History of the Wilmer Family" by Charles Wilmer Foster and Joseph J Green, 1888, tells a bit about him and his family.
Doctor Patrick Murray, Kirkcudbright and Jamaica &c.
John Wilmer Esq., Merchant of London, and of Paradise Row, Stoke Newington, co. Middlesex, and Lord of the Manor of North Bemfleet, Canvey Island, Essex, the only son of John Wilmer, was born at Ealing, 13th September 1696; and married, circa 1750, Elizabeth Scott, daughter of ------ Scott, Esq., and sister of Isabella, the wife of Henry Faussett, Esq. Mr. Faussett was a member of the family of Faussett, of Heppington, co. Kent, and brother of the Reverend Bryan Faussett, the well-known antiquarian, who formed the famous Saxon collection which bears his name, and is now in the Liverpool Museum. These Scotts used (but by what right we are ignorant) the arms of Scott, of Scott's Hall,co. Kent, which are Argent, three catherine-wheels sable a bordure engrailed gules. John and Elizabeth Wilmer had issue : —
John Wilmer (See below).
Mary Wilmer, born at Paradise Row, 7th November 1753; married at Stoke Newington parish church, by licence, 22nd February 1774, Patrick Murray, M.D., of Norfolk Street, London, and of Stoke Newington, an eminent physician, and afterwards Assistant Judge of the Supreme Court of Jamaica. He was a Presbyterian, and his wife severed her connection with the Society of Friends soon after the marriage. She died at Montego Bay, Jamaica, 1st May 1782. Dr. Murray survived her by several years, and, returning to his native town of Kirkcudbright, died, and was buried in the Presbyterian churchyard there. He had several children who died in infancy, and a son: —
Peter Murray, M.D., of Harrogate, Knaresborough, and Belle Vue, Scarborough; born at Montego Bay, Jamaica, 30th March 1782. After the death of his grandmother, Mrs. Sinclair, he was brought up by his devoted aunt, Elizabeth Wilmer. He was educated at St. Andrew's and Edinburgh Universities, at the latter of which he took the degree of M.D. in 1802. He then practised at Harrogate and Knaresborough, and afterwards at Scarborough, where he lived during the last thirty-eight years of his life. He was an ardent botanist and naturalist, a philosopher and a Christian philanthropist.
He died at Belle Vue, Scarborough, 27th February 1864, aged 81, and was buried in the Scarborough cemetery, 6th March ; M.I. The life of this excellent man was written by the Reverend Robert Balgarnie, Minister of the Bar congregational chapel, Scarborough, under the title: — The Beloved Physician : A Memoir of Peter Murray, M.D., of Belle Vue, Scarborough. (Simpkin, Marshall and Co., London, 1S64).
Elizabeth Wilmer, born at Paradise Row, 23rd March 1754 ; died at Belle Vue, Scarborough, 24th February 1849, aged 94 ; buried in the F.B.G., St. Sepulchre Street, Scarborough, 2nd March ; M.I.
Grizell Wilmer, born at Paradise Row, 13th July 1755 ; married at Sarborough, 16th September 1782, Alexander Grant, Esq., a medical practitioner, of Cheltenham. He was then aged 28, and was described as of St. Luke's, Chelsea. Grizell Grant died at Belle Vue, Scarborough, 26th January 1837, aged 81, and was buried in the same grave as her sister Elizabeth ; M.I. Her husband predeceased her by many years.
John Wilmer died of 'a decline' at Stoke Newington, 22nd January 1764, aged 67, and was buried in his own garden in that place, 28th January. His house at Stoke Newington is still in existence (1888), and is now used as an Invalid Asylum for women. It contains a very fine carved oak staircase, with landscape paintings on canvas fitted into the walls. The floor of the hall is paved with white marble, and the ancient iron gates and railings, with a monogram, are still in situ. A large tomb, seven and a half feet square, marks the spot where John Wilmer was buried, which was then a garden, but is now a builder's yard. Tradition relates that he was buried in his bed, with a chair and a table beside him, and that, in consequence of his insuperable dread of being interred alive, a cord, attached to his wrist, communicated with a bell in his coachman's house hard by. The whole story, however, is improbable. When the house and grounds were sold, a right of way to the tomb was reserved. John Wilmer's will was dated l0th February 1758, and proved 12th March 1764". He mentions his houses in Stoke Newington, his manor at North Benfleet, his freehold lands and tenements in Hoxton, "my large house with the lands, etc., which, I now inhabit at Stoke Newington," his copyhold estate at Hampton Wick, and his two houses at Humerton, co. Middlesex. He names his nephew, George Robinson ; his cousin, Mary Forbes ; and John Harman, of London, Merchant. John Wilmer's widow, Elizabeth, who resided at Ranelagh, near London, was married, secondly, at Stoke Newington parish church, by licence, by the Reverend Charles Farrant, Dean of Peterborough, 7th May 1774, to John Sinclair, Esq., of Stoke Newington, third son of John Sinclair, Esq., of Ulbster, co. Caithness, and uncle of the Right Hon. John Sinclair, of Ulbster, Baronet, M.P., P.C, D.C.L., etc., the famous agriculturist and philanthropist. John Sinclair, the uncle, was at one time a captain in the 7th Regiment of Foot, with the rank of major in the army. He died in Skeldergate, in the city of York, 23rd November 17S7.
Elizabeth Sinclair died 'of an asthma,' at Sloane Square, Chelsea, 8th July 1793, aged 62, and was buried at the F.B.G., Winchmore Hill, as a non-member of the Society of Friends, 14th July. There is in the possession of one of the editors the original bill for the funeral of Mrs. Sinclair, amounting to the moderate sum of £35. 19s. 6d. Amongst the items is a fine of £2. 10s. for burying in linen. The remains were enclosed in lead in a Virginia walnut-tree case.
External Links