The Murrays in my tree are all descendants of Andrew Murray and Sarah who were living in Bloomsbury from around 1800 to their deaths in 1831 and 1847 respectively. From the later baptism records it appears their address was Everett Street, and Andrew was a Hairdresser. It seems likely that they were the Andrew Murray and Sarah Jones who married at St George, Hanover Square on the 17th October 1800, and that Andrew had been born in 1774 in Banchory Devenick in Kincardineshire. They had six children, five sons and one daughter: • James Thomas (bap. 21 Mar 1802, St Giles in the Fields, Camden) • Margaret (b. 10 Oct 1804, bap. 26 Oct 1804, St George the Martyr, Queen Square, Camden) • Andrew John (b. 15 Jul 1808, bap. St. George, Bloomsbury 8 Aug 1808) • Robert (b. 16 Sept 1810, bap. St. George, Bloomsbury 4 Nov 1810) • Charles Henry (b. 3 Jan 1813, bap. St. George, Bloomsbury 31 Jan 1813) • William (b. 13 Sep 1817, bap. St. George, Bloomsbury 12 Oct 1817). So far I have not found out anything about James and Robert apart from their baptisms, but three of the other four went to South Australia (and one returned). Charles Henry Murray, my great great grandfather stayed in London and invented some of the machinery used in building not only the Thames Embankment but also in a large number of the major civil engineering projects of the second half of the nineteenth century. There’s too much to write about them all in this space - it’s an ongoing project as more and more information becomes available. A lot of it is summarised in the Murray timeline, but a lot more has come to light on the Australian side that is still to be incorporated. The names of some of the families they married into are links in the side column.

Andrew John Murray Born on the 15th July 1808 in Bloomsbury, London, died on the 23rd October 1880 in Clapham, Surrey. Married Georgiana Hayward. Solicitor, Government Resident in Port Lincoln, South Australia.

Charles Henry Murray Born on the 3rd January 1813 in Bloomsbury, London, died on the 2nd December 1891 in Croydon, Surrey. Married Caroline Augusta Milleman. Inventor and practical engineer.

William Murray Born on the 13th September 1817 in Bloomsbury, London, died on the 22nd August 1875 in Adelaide, South Australia. Married Elizabeth de Normanville, and Elizabeth Charlotte Watkins Bishop.Civil engineer and surveyor.

Like her brothers’, Margaret Murray’s early years will probably remain a mystery, but she surfaces in 1837 as a witness to the marriage of her brother Andrew John and Georgiana Hayward, who shortly afterwards departed for Adelaide arriving in 1839. Andrew John Murray worked in numerous government posts in Adelaide including Town Clerk (pro tem.), Collector of Rates, Clerk of the Market, Assistant Commissioner of the Gold Fields, Superintendent of Convicts, Registrar and Justice of the Peace. In June 1853 he was appointed Acting Government Resident in Port Lincoln, and by July he and his wife were making arrangements for their move from Adelaide. Georgiana advertised in the South Australian Register for “a good general female servant” to accompany them, and also one for a family in town. This family is presumably that of her brother-in-law William Murray, consisting at this time of William and his wife Elizabeth, and their two small children, William Charles and Harry Andrew, who had arrived in Adelaide, where William was working as a civil engineer, in January that year. The two families were certainly sharing a house in Beaumont in April 1853 when Andrew John Murray was bound over to keep the peace after appearing to threaten to shoot a neighbour over a duck-related incident! (Adelaide Times Wed 13 Apr 1853) As some sources suggest Margaret Murray had arrived in Adelaide on board the Sophia Moffatt on the 13th February 1852 - so arriving before her brother William - she was probably also a member of this household, remaining in Adelaide with William and his family after Andrew John and Georgiana’s departure for Port Lincoln. On the 6th February 1855 in the Free Presbyterian Church, Port Adelaide, Margaret Murray married Eric Finlason. MARRIED. On the 6th instant, by special licence, by the Rev. John Gardner, Eric Finlason, Esq., of Melbourne, and late of Aberdeen, to Miss Margaret Murray, of Adelaide, and late of London. [South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900) Friday 9 February 1855] Sadly just over a year after her marriage, Margaret died: DIED. At Castlemaine, Victoria, on the 21st February last, Mrs. Finlason, wife of Mr. Eric Finlason and sister to Mr. W. Murray, of Kensington. [South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900) Saturday 8 March 1856]. Her death certificate states that she died from natural causes in Forest Creek, and had lived three years in Adelaide, and one year in Victoria, which confirms her arrival in South Australia in 1852. It would of course help if I could definitely find Margaret on the 1841 and 1851 censuses. Her death certificate also gives some details of her parents: her father Andrew is described as a Solicitor, presumably he was being confused with her brother Andrew John, as her father appears in the post- 1813 baptism records of the Murray siblings as a Hairdresser. Though the confusion is not surprising; her brother Charles Henry on his marriage stated his father’s occupation to have been Superintendent of the Powder Works at Hounslow, while William thought his father had been a Purser with the Honourable East India Company. Read more about Eric Finlason …