A confusing tale of two Andrew Murrays Andrew John Murray (b. London, 1808) and Andrew Murray (b. Scotland, 1813) both went to South Australia in 1839. Andrew Murray was born on the 16th May 1813 in Kirkbean in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland and baptised on the 21st May that year. He was the third of apparently four children born to his parents, William Murray "Preacher of the Gospel" and his wife Mary Bridges. The Reverend William Murray not only preached in the Church of Kirkbean but also taught in the Old School. His gravestone in Kirkbean kirkyard reads: "In memory of The Reverend William Murray, Teacher in Kirkbean for 51 years, who died 11th Dec.  1857 in his 78th year. [text in Latin]. Also Mary Bridges his wife, who died 11th Jan. 1852 aged 72 years. Also John B. Murray their son who died 13th Feb. 1816 aged 9 months. Also Sarah Murray their daughter, wife of J.A. Gilfillan, who died at Glasgow 13th Aug. 1837 aged 27." Their other daughter Agnes Thomson Murray (born 7th August 1809) married John Gibson on the 17th July 1829 in Kirkbean and their descendants are now living in Canada. Andrew presumably began his education with his father before attending university in Glasgow where in 1836 with a work on Oliver Cromwell he won the Peel Club's first prize essay. What prompted him to go to South Australia remains unknown, but he arrived at Port Adelaide in 1839, the same year as Andrew John Murray. Not surprisingly in the early records of the colony the two men get confused. Andrew John Murray consistently uses his middle name, presumably a trait from childhood to distinguish himself from his father - also called Andrew. Andrew Murray was not baptised with a middle name; in Scotland if a middle name was given it tended anyway to be a family surname not a second christian name. The Australian Dictionary of National Biography records that Andrew Murray arrived in Adelaide in January 1839, but searching the passenger lists that are available online throws up no suitable candidate. So is it possible that he arrived in October on the Palmyra which sailed from Greenock on the 3rd July 1839? An Andrew Murray is named in the passenger list that also includes David Spence - who would become Adelaide's Town Clerk - and his family including two daughters, Catherine and the Jessie who was to marry Andrew on the 2nd November 1841. Andrew John Murray arrived in South Australia with his wife Georgiana. There is no exact match on the passenger lists: but the most likely is with the “Murray, Mr & wife - cabin” who arrived on the Caroline from London on the 17th December 1839. Looking through the early records of the colony it is fairly safe to say that references to Andrew Murray, Merchant, refer to Andrew Murray. That is how he describes himself in his marriage announcement in The Adelaide Independent of Thursday 4th November 1841, and when he is in gaol as an insolvent debtor at the end of 1842 the South Australian Government Gazette refers to him as: “Andrew Murray, Merchant, Hindley-st., and Rundle-st.” But then to confuse matters there are references to "A. J. Murray" - merchant and postmaster in some 1841 directories. I have so far found only one occasion when the two men appear at the same event. On Saturday 26th August 1848, as The South Australian reported on the following Tuesday: “On no former occasion has a Levee in South Australia been so numerously attended as that of Sir Henry Young, on Saturday, the birth day of His Royal Highness Prince Albert […] Murray, Andrew; Murray, Andrew John; [among many others]” Andrew Murray formed the drapery business of Murray, Greig & Co.,which failed in November 1842. He became editor of the South(ern) Australian early in 1843 and its proprietor from 31 October 1844 to 19 August 1851. From 1845 he also acted as government printer and at his office in Rundle Street issued many periodicals, the weekly government gazette and annual South Australian almanacs and directories. In January 1852 he founded the conservative Adelaide Morning Chronicle but sold it in May 1853. In 1852 he moved to Melbourne where he joined the Argus as its commercial editor and political writer, and further references to Andrew [John] Murray in Adelaide and Port Lincoln can only refer to the one man. Andrew John Murray worked in numerous government posts from October 1840 to June 1860, including Town Clerk (pro tem.), Collector of Rates, Clerk of the Market, Assistant Commissioner of the Gold Fields, Superintendent of Convicts, Registrar, Justice of the Peace and Stipendiary Magistrate, and Government Resident in Port Lincoln. He bought land, built two houses, one at Athelstone, and the other, Ravendale House in Port Lincoln. He wrote letters to the papers, squabbled with his neighbours and generally seems to have rubbed people up the wrong way with his – apparently – pompous manners and opinions. Having failed to get elected to Parliament in 1865, he returned to England at the beginning of 1866, following his wife on the City of Adelaide – she had also sailed on that ship, one year earlier, to return home to administer the estate of her mother. Once home he continued in a semi-public life, writing more letters to the papers and remaining litigious. Declared bankrupt in 1879 – probably as a result of a business dispute with his brother - he died in 1880 just eleven days after having his bankruptcy annulled. … and a third I confirmed a lot of my assumptions about Andrew John Murray while in email correspondence with a gentleman in Adelaide by the name of Gus. I first came across him when he wrote to his local paper on the origins of the name Athelstone. He had traced it back to a shepherd called Andrew Murray who had arrived in the colony in 1839 from the Scottish borders. There were a number of problems around this, the main one being that a shepherd would probably not have been able to afford the £300 needed to purchase the original plot of land. Gus did a lot of research locally for me – for which I am eternally grateful – and eventually by comparing the signature on Andrew John Murray's marriage licence application with those on Adelaide documents, he had to admit that he'd been wrong. As he had based his derivation of the name Athelstone on placenames around Andrew the shepherd's Peebles, we were no nearer to finding out why Andrew John Murray called his first house Athelstone. The shepherd Andrew Murray appears to have arrived in Adelaide with his wife Marion (née Ballantyne) on the Prince George on the 26th December 1838. Both aged 23 they came from Eshiels Hope near Peebles, and had been married there in August that year before sailing from London on the 12th September. They don't appear on the 1841 South Australian census, as they had already moved on to Melbourne where they had a daughter Marion baptised on the 2nd February 1840, and another daughter Margaret on the 14th October 1843. (FamilySearch) Following them up in the Australian newspapers, Andrew adopts the middle name John, and becomes a painter. They had another daughter, Agnes, who married William Lush in 1880; a son Andrew who married Adah Russell in 1901; and a daughter Sarah who died in 1861. When their daughter Margaret was married to George Twiss in 1868 she is described as “the third daughter of Andrew John Murray, formerly of Peebles, Scotland”. Andrew and Marion's deaths are also announced in The Argus. This Andrew John Murray died, aged 72 years and 10 months, on the 18th May 1889, and he is described as a Victorian colonist of 50 years. Marion died on the 29th July 1900, aged 84; she is a Victorian colonist of 61 years. That puts their arrival in 1839, and their births in 1816/1817, which tallies quite nicely with the passenger details on the Prince George. Georgiana Hayward aka Mrs A.J. Murray Georgiana Hayward was born on the 18th January 1817 in Princes Street, Rotherhithe to George Hayward, a Clerk in the Bank of England, and his wife Sarah. George Hayward had married Sarah Winnock on the 21st October 1806 at Lexden in Essex, where she lived with her recently widowed mother. Her father, Samuel Winnock, was a descendant of  John Winnock, baymaker of Colchester. Her sister Mary Ann Winnock probably moved to Rotherhithe to be with her after their mother’s death in 1810, for she married James Payne, another Bank of England employee, there on the 6th August 1812. George and Sarah had five children baptised in Rotherhithe: George Winnock Hayward and Samuel Fisher Hayward in 1811; Sarah Ann in 1812 and Harriet in 1815; Georgiana was baptised on the 26th February 1817. By 1837 when Georgiana married Andrew John Murray, her mother was a widow and she was the only surviving child. George Winnock Hayward died before 1832, the year both his brother Samuel Fisher Hayward and their father George died.  George’s death was reported thus in the Essex Standard of  Saturday 14 April 1832: 8th inst. at Walton-le-Soken, Mr. George Hayward, aged 48, late of the Bank of England. The affliction which terminated his life, although severe and protracted, was borne with great patience and equanimity of temper. His urbanity of manners, and his moral and social values, endeared him through life to all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. Scarcely two months since he was bereaved of his only son, an amiable young man of 22 years of age. George had re-written his will shortly before his death - probably as a result of his son’s death - and he describes himself as “of Judd Street, Brunswick Square, London but now residing at Walton in Essex.” Judd Street must have been the family home at this time as it was also the address given on the burial register of St George The Martyr, Queen Square in Camden for Samuel Fisher Hayward. Were there family connections to Walton or was he staying in some kind of convalescent home? In his will he leaves everything to his wife and daughters; however Sarah Ann was to die in 1835, being buried in the same place as her brother Samuel Fisher, and I have found no further trace of Harriet after her baptism. The Murrays at this time were living in Hunter Street, which as the southern continuation of Judd Street would have made them fairly close neighbours of the Haywards. Did the young Andrew John Murray, training as a solicitor, admire the even younger Georgiana, before her move to south London where her mother went probably to be nearer her sister Mary Ann Payne? Andrew John Murray applied for a marriage licence on the 23rd of February 1837: “Appeared personally Andrew John Murray of the Parish of St Pancras in Middlesex, a Bachelor, aged twenty one years and upwards and prayed a Licence for the Solemnization of Matrimony in the Parish Church of Saint Mary, Newington in the county of Surrey, between him and Georgiana Hayward of the Parish of Saint Mary, Newington aforesaid, Spinster, a minor aged twenty years and upwards. [...] And he further made Oath that She, the said Georgiana Hayward, hath had her usual place of abode within the said parish of Saint Mary Newington for the space of fifteen days last past. And he lastly made oath that the consent of Sarah Hayward, Widow, the natural and lawful mother of the said minor, her father being dead and she having  no Testamentary or other Guardian of her person lawfully appointed, having been obtained to such marriage. [Signed] AJ Murray.” The wedding took place on the 2nd March 1837, by licence, but not at St Mary, Newington, instead at St George, Camberwell. “Andrew John Murray of the parish of St Pancras, Middlesex, a Bachelor & Georgiana Hayward of this parish, Spinster & minor were married in this Church by Licence with consent of Sarah Hayward, widow, the natural and lawful mother of the said minor this second day of March one thousand eight hundred and thirty seven, by me Samuel Smith. [Signed] Andrew John Murray, Georgiana Hayward, in the presence of [signed] James Payne, Margaret Murray, MAH Cotton.” Perhaps Georgiana’s mother regretted losing her only surviving daughter to a husband, but accepted it as a necessary step in life. I wonder if she was so accepting of the next event in her daughter’s life: when on the 28th June 1839, with her husband, she sailed on the Caroline for Adelaide in South Australia where he was to take up a series of posts with the Government. Once in Adelaide, while her husband was pursuing his career in the Government service, Georgiana had a musical career of her own as a pianist, piano teacher and composer and a South Australian directory for 1851 has the following: A.S. Murray [sic], Clerk of the Cattle Market, Thebarton. Mrs Murray, Professor of Music, Thebarton. Among her pupils was the young pianist and violinist Richard Baxter White. At least two published compositions by her are documented as new in 1860, both to words by Boyle Travers Finnis, and both lost: The Gathering (“A War Song of Australia; words by B. T. Finniss, Esq., M.P., music by Mrs. A. J. Murray, Adelaide Glee Club”), and Canst thou not read the mute appeal (song; “the words by B. T. Finniss, and the music by Mrs. Murray”). A stalwart and possible founder member of the Adelaide Choral Society, Mrs Murray performed in many concerts as a soloist - both vocal and on the piano - and accompanist. Indeed the South Australian Register on Wednesday 14 November 1849 commented thus on her contribution to the musical life of the town: We are glad to find that the committee of the Mechanics' Institution have exhibited their appreciation of the invaluable services of that sweet vocalist and accomplished pianist, Mrs Murray, by electing her an Honorary Member. They have likewise, at their meeting of last evening, passed the following resolution : — 'That the Committee feel bound to express to Mrs Murray the grateful sense they entertain of her past exertions in aid of the Institution, and the gratification which the exercise of Mrs Murray's distinguished musical talents at the conversaziones of the Society have so repeatedly afforded to themselves and every member of the Institution'. Mrs Murray, by affording the gratuitous aid of her inestimable musical talents to this Society during the two years which have elapsed since its revival, has been the main instrument in working out its present degree of prosperity, for it is a lamentable fact that neither lectures, discussions, nor Library have afforded sufficient attraction to members to induce them to keep their subscriptions from getting into arrear, and that the majority of the members have neglected to renew their quarterly tickets until the eve of the musical entertainments, which they have oddly enough designated conversaziones. As a sideline she also apparently took to silk production when she exhibited at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, “a specimen of silk raised by her at Adelaide in 1850, the produce of 580 worms, fed on white and black mulberry leaves”. The South Australian Register also reported in February 1853 that they had seen the “Exhibition certificate forwarded to Mrs Murray, and the certificates and medals obtained by a brother of Mr Murray’s”. This is Andrew John Murray’s youngest brother, William, who had arrived in Adelaide in January 1853 with his family to work as a civil engineer and surveyor. When her husband took up the post of Government Resident in Port Lincoln, Georgiana took over the running of the church choir there. Testimonial to Mrs. A. J. Murray, Port Lincoln.— On the 5th instant a deputation from the congregation of St. Thomas's Church and the residents of Port Lincoln waited upon Mrs. A.J. Murray to present the following testimonial to her upon her departure for England:— "The congregation of St. Thomas's Church with others resident in Port Lincoln are very desirous of testifying their high sense of the services which have been rendered during many years past by Mrs. A.J. Murray in conducting the choral portion of the services in that church. The kindness and zeal which that lady has at all times shown they wish to acknowledge with every feeling of gratitude, and think that they cannot seize a more favourable opportunity for so doing than on the eve of her departure for England, or a better mode of evincing their sentiments on this subject than by requesting Mrs. Murray's acceptance of the accompanying purse, which, although confessedly an inadequate expression of their feelings, they request her to make use of in any mode which may seem most agreeable to herself." The purse, which was of a very handsome description, contained 60 sovereigns, which Mrs. Murray signified her intention of laying out when in England in a manner best calculated to perpetuate the remembrance of so gratifying a demonstration of friendship and esteem. South Australian Register Thursday 12 January 1865 Georgiana sailed away from South Australia in the City of Adelaide on the 20th January 1865 and arrived back in London on the 3rd May, three and a half months after her mother’s death on the 16th January. Perhaps she had hoped to see her again before she died; letters would have told her that she was failing, though hardly surprising in a lady of her advanced years: Jan. 16th at 181 Albany Road, Camberwell, aged 86, after a long illness, Sarah, relict of George Hayward, late of the Bank of England, and youngest daughter of the late Samuel Winnock of Great Horkesley, in this county. Essex Standard Wednesday 25 January 1865 Her mother’s will, written in 1860 at 240 Albany Road was proved on the 24th February 1865. She leaves all her household furniture, clothes, jewellery, plate and linen to her brother-in-law Mr James Payne and her sister Mary Ann Payne, and she gives all the remaining property to her only daughter Georgiana Murray the wife of Andrew John Murray of Port Lincoln in South Australia. Andrew John Murray arrived back in England on the 13th April 1866, and in the 1871 census they are living at 181 Albany Road with Georgiana’s widowed aunt, Mary Ann Payne, and he describes his occupation as Special Magistrate South Australia. Mary Ann Payne died on the 17th November 1873, and her will is a study in the connections and interests of a widowed and childless middle-class lady. After a lot of small and some not-so-small bequests she leaves her leasehold houses in Albany Rd.,123, 179, 181 and the rest of her property to her niece Georgiana Murray, daughter of her late sister Sarah Hayward, and appoints Andrew John Murray formerly of Australia and Georgiana Murray executor and executrix. On the 19th October 1874 Andrew John Murray wrote his will at Athol House, Knatchbull Road, Camberwell - a name that has echoes of the house he called Athelstone in Adelaide. By 1879 during the course of his bankruptcy proceedings his address is Ravendale, Macaulay-road, Clapham - a name identical to his house in Port Lincoln - and that is where he died on the 27th October 1880. In 1881 Georgiana is living at 57 The Chase, Clapham, and in 1891 she is at 175 Upland Rd, Camberwell where she died on the 22nd March 1901.

The Murrays Andrew John Murray & Georgiana Murray (née Hayward)