Percy Hope Murray

Born in Glasgow on 7 February 1869, Percy Hope Murray studied medicine at the University of Glasgow. He graduated in 1892.

On 28 March 1894 at Castlemagner in County Cork he married Cecil Eleanor Becher, third daughter of Sir John Wrixon Becher, Bart., of Balliggiblin.

The couple appear on the 1901 census living at Beckenham in Kent with two young sons and three servants. Percy gave ‘Medical practitioner’ as his profession.

In 1911 they were still living in Beckenham with their two sons, Kenneth John Hope Murray and Henry Cecil Murray. According to that year’s census, they had had no other children.

Mrs Cecil Eleanor Hope Murray ‘was found drowned in a pond a mile from her home on Friday.’ An inquest held at Hambledon returned a verdict of ‘Suicide while temporarily insane’ (Western Morning News, 22 March 1927). ‘A regular follower of hounds she had been out with the Gosport and Fareham Beagles, which met at Hambledon that day. […] Five weeks ago her husband was seriously injured by a horse kicking him, and although he had recovered the accident worried her a great deal’ (Hull Daily Mail, 19 March 1927).

Later that same year Percy married Hilda Mary Hope Murray, née Becher, sister of his first wife.

When the 1939 Register was compiled on the eve of the Second World War, Percy was living at ‘Oakhurst,’ a house in the Hampshire village of Hambledon, together with his second wife, Hilda.

Dr Percy Hope Murray ‘of Oakhurst, Hambledon, Hampshire’ died on 28 April 1957 at St Mary’s Hospital, Portsmouth. He was 88 years old. His estate was valued at £29,132.

According to his obituary in a local paper: ‘He moved to Hambledon in 1925 where his wife died in 1927. He was married again in the late part of that year to his late wife’s younger sister, Miss Hilda Mary Becker [sic]. During World War I he controlled a Red Cross Hospital in Beckenham, Kent, and in World War II was associated with the Hampshire Red Cross. Until 1948 he was a member of the Hambledon Hunt, and hunted regularly until he was 79. He is survived by his wife and two sons’ (Hampshire Telegraph, 3 May 1957).

Mrs Hilda.Mary Hope Murray died at Oakhurst on 1 December 1958, leaving an estate valued at £37,385.

Photographed by John Stuart of Glasgow.