David Christie Murray (13 April 1847 – 1 August 1907) was an English journalist, who also wrote fiction.
Life
Murray was born in a home at High Street,
West Bromwich
West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, ...
, Staffordshire, one of six sons and five daughters of William Murray and Mary Withers; he was educated in West Bromwich and Spon Lane.
At the age of twelve, he joined his father's printing business. At age eighteen, he was sent to London for more training for the printing business, but, after a failed attempt at romance, he instead enlisted with the army. He became a private with the
4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards
The 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1685 as the Earl of Arran's Regiment of Cuirassiers. It was renamed as the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards in 1788 and service for two centuries, incl ...
.
After being bought out of the service by a great aunt, he became a journalist. Initially he wrote leaders for the ''Wednesbury Advertiser'', then worked for the newspaper ''Birmingham Morning News'' reporting on police cases. In 1871, he married Sophie Harris, with whom he had a daughter, who died young. He had four children out of wedlock.
Murray reported on the
Russo-Turkish War
The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histo ...
during 1877–1878, then quit journalism to write fiction.
He spent a year touring England for a series of articles published in ''The Mayfair Magazine''.
About 1879 he married his second wife, Alice, and the couple had a son, Archibald.
That year, Murray's story ''A Life's Atonement'' appeared in ''Chamber's Journal'', followed by ''Joseph's Coat'' in 1880. The late 19th-century author
George Gissing
George Robert Gissing (; 22 November 1857 – 28 December 1903) was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. His best-known works have reappeared in modern editions. They include ''The Nether World'' (1889), ''New Grub ...
wrote in his diary that he had "heard of the book as good; of course find it very poor."
[ His 1882 novel ''By the Gate of Les'' was serialised in '']Cornhill Magazine
''The Cornhill Magazine'' (1860–1975) was a monthly Victorian magazine and literary journal named after the street address of the founding publisher Smith, Elder & Co. at 65 Cornhill in London.Laurel Brake and Marysa Demoor, ''Dictionar ...
'' and ''Aunt Rachel'' (1886) in ''The English Illustrated Magazine
''The English Illustrated Magazine'' was a monthly publication that ran for 359 issues between October 1883 and August 1913. Features included travel, topography, and a large amount of fiction and were contributed by writers such as Thomas Hardy, ...
''.Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
, France. Murray was well traveled and a success as a lecturer.Jude the Obscure
''Jude the Obscure'' is a novel by Thomas Hardy, which began as a magazine serial in December 1894 and was first published in book form in 1895 (though the title page says 1896). It is Hardy's last completed novel. The protagonist, Jude Fawley ...
'', the characterization in it of Sue Bridehead, and its effect on impressionable readers: "one of the gravest dangers which beset women is that of hysterical self-deception ... to make them believe that their emotions are worthy of the great human heart is to increase their morbid temptations."[
His financial difficulties increased in his later years, exacerbated by illness. One of his stories was completed when he was in the infirmary of ]HM Prison Wandsworth
HM Prison Wandsworth is a Category B men's prison at Wandsworth in the London Borough of Wandsworth, South West London, England. It is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service and is one of the largest prisons in the UK.
History
The prison w ...
.[ (See p. 340.)]
Murray died in London after a long period of illness.
Bibliography
*''A life's atonement''Henry Herman
Henry Herman (real name Henry Heydrac D'Arco, 1832–1894) was an English dramatist and novelist.
Biography
He was born in Alsace, and educated at a military college. He emigrated to the United States, and served in the Confederate Army during ...
*''First person singular''
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, David Christie
1847 births
1907 deaths
People from West Bromwich
English male journalists
4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards soldiers
English male dramatists and playwrights
19th-century English dramatists and playwrights
19th-century English male writers