This unexecuted monument design was commissioned by Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Elibank, for his deceased wife Maria Margaretta, daughter of Cornelius de Yong, Lord of Elmeet, who had died in 1762. It was probably intended for Aberlady Church, East Lothian, as it is here that we find a later monument to Lady Elibank, to a different design, carved by Antonio Canova and including an inscription in Latin composed by Dr Johnson.

Elibank pursued a variety of economic interests, subscribing to the Firth and Clyde Canal and holding a partnership in a Dumfries Bank. He was also an East India Company proprietor and recipient of a West Florida grant of 20,000 acres from his nephew, Governor George Johnstone.

Literature:
A.T. Bolton, The architecture of Robert and James Adam, 1922, Volume II, Index pp. 54, 70; D. King, The complete works of Robert & James Adam and unbuilt Adam, 2001, Volume II, p. 265; W.C. Lowe, 'Murray, Patrick, fifth Lord Elibank' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online

Frances Sands, 2011