| He first appears in the year 1405, when a safe-conduct to England to tilt was granted to him, and to William of Drumlanrik. He was a witness to several charters by Archibald, fourth Earl of Douglas, in the early part of the fifteenth century and from this Earl he obtained, upon his resignation, a charter of the lands and 'tenements of Ryvale', in which he is described as ' our beloved cousin, Sir Thomas of Murray, Knight.' This deed is dated 1411, and in it the lands are destined, failing Sir Thomas's sons Gavin and Charles, and his brothers David and Patrick, to his cousin Robert Murray, son of the late Andrew Murray of Manuel, whom failing, to the heirs of his father, Patrick, but in two later charters of the lands of Laik and Arbigland, granted by the same Earl in 1420 and 1421, the lands are destined to Sir Thomas's six sons successively. In the earlier of these deeds, of the dates 1411 and 1420, Sir Thomas's sons are described as 'natural'. In the last deed, dated 1421, and in the confirmation by James, ninth Earl of Douglas, of the charter of 1420, which must have been after February 1452, they are called 'sons' only.9 |