8. William Murray was Charles I’s whipping boy, receiving corporal punishment for the young prince’s transgressions and rewarded for his pains with an earldom
William Murray (1600-1655) was the whipping boy of the young Charles I of England, later becoming the first Earl of Dysart and a close advisor to the ill-fated king. During the early modern period of Europe, a whipping boy was a lesser child granted the privilege of education alongside a prince and in exchange received corporal punishment on behalf of the royal person; as the teacher was inferior in social status to the prince, especially to a crown prince, he was unable to administer a beating and it was believed that seeing a friend punished on his behalf would inspire the prince to not learn and not recommit the offense.
Beginning his friendship with the young Prince Charles at an early age when his uncle, Thomas Murray, took his nephew to court for the opportunity of a royal education, Murray and Charles became close friends; the latter appointed Murray as one of the Gentlemen of the Bedchamber in 1626, retaining his services throughout his tenure as monarch. Granted the lease of Ham House, an extravagant estate close to the royal palaces of London, Murray remained a key advisor to King Charles I during his turbulent reign and frequently used his position to procure favors; in spite of this loyalty, Murray was unintentionally responsible for the leaked plans to arrest five members of the House of Commons when he told Lord Digby of the king’s intention, an act which set in motion the English Civil War.
Ennobled in 1643 by Charles I, becoming Lord Dysart, during the Civil War Murray traveled across Europe and Scotland in an attempt to procure support for his king, in the course of said duties being captured in February 1646 and released only on the condition he beseeched the king to yield to parliament. Arranging in secret for the king’s exile, Charles rejected his plans at the eleventh hour and Murray fled abroad alone; it is believed he later supported Charles II during his own exile at The Hague in the aftermath of Charles I’s execution in 1649. Murray died in December 1655 in Edinburgh, still awaiting the restoration of the English monarchy.