H. J. R. Murray
H. J. R. Murray | |
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![]() Murray in 1907 | |
Born | Harold James Ruthven Murray 24 June 1868 Peckham, London, England |
Died | 16 May 1955 England | (aged 86)
Nationality | British |
Education | Mill Hill Balliol College |
Spouse | Kate Crosthwaite (m. 1897) |
Relatives | James Murray (father) |
Harold James Ruthven Murray (24 June 1868 – 16 May 1955) was a British educationalist, inspector of schools, and prominent chess historian. His book, A History of Chess, is widely regarded as the most authoritative and comprehensive history of the game.[1]
Early life and education[]
Murray, the eldest of eleven children, was born near Peckham Rye in Peckham, London. The son of Sir James Murray, the first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, he attended school at Mill Hill and, in his spare time, helped his father produce the first edition of the OED. By the time Harold had finished school and was preparing to leave for university, he had produced over 27,000 quotations that later appeared in the OED.
He won a place at Balliol College, Oxford where in 1890 he graduated with a first class degree in Mathematics.[2] He became an assistant master at Queen's College, Taunton where he learned to play chess. Later he was assistant master at Carlisle Grammar School, and in 1896 became headmaster of Ormskirk Grammar School in Lancashire. On 4 January 1897, he married Kate Maitland Crosthwaite. In 1901, he was appointed a school inspector, and in 1928 he became a member of the Board of Education.
Murray was a champion of the left-handed, defending children against the attempts of schools to make them conform by using their right hands.[2][3]
History of Chess[]
In 1897, Murray was encouraged by Baron von der Lasa (who had just completed his book on the history of European chess) to research the history of chess. Murray gained access to the largest chess library in the world, that of John G. White of Cleveland, Ohio, and also used the collection of J. W. Rimington Wilson in England.[4] The White collection contained some Arabic manuscripts, so Murray learned Arabic, and German. The research took him 13 years, during which time he contributed articles on aspects of chess history to the British Chess Magazine and the Deutsches Wochenschach. In 1913 he published A History of Chess, proposing the theory that chess originated in India.[5] This remains the most widely accepted theory. (See Origins of chess.)
In 1952 Murray published A History of Board Games other than Chess. Although A History of Chess was recognised as the standard reference on the subject, its scholarly approach and great length (900 pages) made it inaccessible to most chess players. Murray began a shorter work on chess history written in a more popular style; it remained unfinished at his death and was completed by B. Goulding Brown and Harry Golombek and published in 1963 as A Short History of Chess.
Murray was the father of educationalist and biographer K. M. Elisabeth Murray and the archaeologist Kenneth Murray.[2]
Bibliography[]
Published works[]
- A History of Chess (London: Oxford University Press, 1913)
- A History of Chess (Northampton, MA: Benjamin Press, 1985) ISBN 0-936317-01-9
- A History of Chess (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2012, paperback reprint of the 1913 edition) ISBN 978-1-62087-062-4
- A History of Board Games other than Chess (1952) ISBN 9780198274018
- A Short History of Chess (1963, posthumously) OCLC 906120511
Unpublished works[]
- The Dilaram Arrangement
- The Dilaram position in European Chess
- A History of Draughts
- A History of Heyshott
- The Early History of the Knight's Tour[6]
- The Knight's Problem[6]
- The Classification of Knight's Tours
Most of his unpublished works are held in the Bodleian Libraries of Oxford University.[6][7]
Notes[]
- ^ Eales, Richard (31 January 2002). Chess: The History of a Game. Hardinge Simpole Publishing. p. 18. ISBN 9780951375730.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Brewer, Charlotte. "Katherine Maud Elisabeth Murray (1909-98)". Examining the OED. Hertford College, Oxford: Charlotte Brewer. Archived from the original on 22 November 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ Murray, WGR (1943), Murray the dictionary maker: a brief account of Sir James A. H. Murray... the chief editor of The Oxford (or new) English dictionary, Wynberg, Cape [SA]: Rustica Press.
- ^ "Edmond Hoyle, Gent.: The J. W. Rimington-Wilson Library (Part 1)". 7 September 2012.
- ^ "On the origins of chess (2/7)". 19 May 2018.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "Collection: Papers of H.J.R. Murray relating to knight's tours | Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts". archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
- ^ "Collection: H.J.R. Murray Papers | Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts". archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
References[]
- Brace, Edward R. (1977), An Illustrated Dictionary of Chess, Hamlyn Publishing Group, p. 194, ISBN 1-55521-394-4
- Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1992), The Oxford Companion to Chess (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 265–66, ISBN 0-19-280049-3
- Olson, Calvin (2006), The Chess Kings, Volume 1, Trafford, p. 157, ISBN 1-4120-3907-X (annotated bibliography)
- Sunnucks, Anne (1970), Encyclopaedia of Chess, New York: St. Martin's Press, pp. 312–13, LCCN 78106371
External links[]
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Wikisource has original works written by or about: Harold Murray |
- A History of Chess by H.J. R. Murray (1913) on Google Books
- Chess Cafe column by Tim Harding about Harold Murray.
- “The Chess Historian H.J.R. Murray” by Edward Winter
- H.J.R. Murray Papers at the Oxford University Bodleian Libraries
- Papers of H.J.R. Murray relating to knight's tours at the Oxford University Bodleian Libraries
- 1868 births
- 1955 deaths
- English historians
- Schoolteachers from London
- British chess writers
- Chess historians
- People from Peckham
- Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
- English people of Scottish descent
- Tabletop game writers
- English male non-fiction writers
- Contributors to the Oxford English Dictionary
- Heads of schools in England