| Notes |
- James Gilchrist MURRAY was born around 1859 in Glasgow (Scotland). By 1891 he was married to his first (Scottish) wife Bessie and living in Marsden, Yorkshire, where he was a Congregational Minister. In 1911 he was in Hammersmith, London, and again a Congregational Minister. So he had been married before, but (like Jane) was not native to the Harrold area.
James and Jane's marriage is recorded as 1Q1922 Bakewell, and I have now found that the marriage was in the Congregational church in Matlock Bank (which is in Bakewell registration district). This is the main area of the inland resort of Matlock in the Peak District of Derbyshire, some way from Harrold! Maybe James's posting changed (maybe even as a result of the scandal you mentioned?). In any case, they were married well outside the local area.
Your Cheltenham Chronicle reference seems to have his entire ministry almost (not quite) in chronological order. Scarborough, mentioned in the Dundee Courier, will be the same as Eastborough, which is just a more precise description. His eight ministries were Debenham (Suffolk), Marsden (nr. Huddersfield, Yorkshire), Whitworth (nr. Rochdale, Lancashire), Eastborough (nr. Scarborough, Yorkshire), Manor Park Church (Hammersmith, London), Broadway Church (Hammersmith, London), Harrold (Bedfordshire) and North Place Church (Cheltenham, Gloucestershire). He then retired to Acton (London), Jane died 27/5/1928 in Northampton, and James 2/11/1929 Macduff, Banffshire, Scotland.
Of the newspaper reports found, four are of particular interest:
Bedfordshire Times & Independent 9/12/1921 - Rev. Murray announced from the pulpit a calling to another church, and that he would probably leave Harrold in the New Year.
Gloucestershire Echo 4/5/1922 - announcing that the Rev. Murray begins his ministry at North Place Church, Cheltenham the following Sunday.
In the period intermediate between these last reports, James and Jane are of course married (1Q1922) in Derbyshire - whether that was during or after his ministry at Harrold is not possible to say. They either went away on a break to be married, or in the period between his ministries. I wonder if he knew the minister in Matlock Bank from his Nottingham college days? Either way this would have made waves locally.
Bedfordshire Times & Independent 29/9/1922 - Rev Murray, 'a former pastor at Harrold', officiates at a wedding at Harrold. Amongst the list of wedding gifts were those from Rev. & Mrs. Murray and Mr. & Mrs. J. Tusting.
I imagined that maybe James didn't return to Harrold, but that is clearly not true. This must have been a close friend of his or hers. The J. TUSTING must be John Charles, newly married earlier that year, since his father John was at this point widowed and not yet remarried. I wonder what the local reaction was.
Gloucestershire Echo 17/2/1923 - Rev. Murray announces retirement from North Place Church on medical advice. He was apparently much loved, but by now partially blind.
So, further to the Dundee Courier reporting his death in 1929, he had been retired 6 rather than 7 years (also his wife had predeceased him by only 1 rather than 2 years).
This puts a rather different slant on matters. Maybe James required increasing support from Jane in order to continue his ministry.
We know that Jane died in Northampton (not London) after a long illness (from her funeral report again). Might it be that this, together with James' failing sight, is part or all of the reason why Jane died in Northampton rather than London? James is not listed amongst the mourners at Jane's funeral either.
It seems that James was in the later stages looked after by his in-laws in Macduff. Regarding the burial of Jane with her first husband, Charles and Jane were married for 41 years and she died reasonably local to Harrold. I expect Charles and Jane did purchase a double plot. To have buried James with Jane would have meant deciding to bury Jane in Macduff (400 miles from Bedfordshire and likely a place she had never visited)- a little implausible. As a long illness was involved rather than a sudden death, James and Jane must have talked this over and (we trust) Christian sensibilities prevailed. James having died with his in-laws in the birthplace of his first wife (maybe where they were married), he is possibly buried there with his first wife. Even if not, he would be unlikely to be buried alone in Harrold.
!Source: Mike Sasse
!Death: Newspaper Articles confirm he predeceased by his second wife Jane and died in Macduff Scotland om 5 November 1922.
|
Abt 1857 - 1929 (~ 72 years)
