Draft:Denis George Murray

Denis Murray OM FBA
File:Denis Murray.jpg
Birth name	Denis George Murray
Born	16 March 1892 (1892-03-16) Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom
Died	10 March 1930(1930-03-10) (aged 37) Brampton, Cumberland, England, United Kingdom
Buried	Lanercost Priory, Cumbria, England, United Kingdom
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Naval Air Service Royal Air Force
Years of service	1914–1919
Rank	Flight Lieutenant Captain, Royal Air Force
Unit	Eastchurch Squadron
Battles/wars	World War I Western Front Ostend Zeebrugger Bruges
Awards	Distinguished Service Order, Mentioned in Dispatches
Nationality	British
Education	Oxford University
Occupation	Aviator

Captain Denis Murray (also known as Denys, 16 March 1892-10 March 1930) was a British aviator and flying officer who served in the Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force and did research for the Air Historical Branch. Murray died suddenly in Brampton, Cumberland in 1930, a few days before his 38th birthday. His was buried in Lanercost Priory, Cumbria.

Background

Murray's father was George Gilbert Aimé Murray OM FBA (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) an Australian-born British ancient Greek scholar and intellectual who served as President of the Ethical Union (1929-1930, now Humanists UK) and was a leader of the League of Nations Society and the League of Nations Union. His mother was Lady Mary Henrietta Howard (1865–1956), daughter of George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle, an artist. He had two sisters and two brothers:

Rosalind Murray (1890–1967), writer and the first wife of Arnold J. Toynbee.[65] Agnes Elizabeth Murray (1894–1922), gave up her studies at Somerville College, Oxford to spend two years nursing before serving as an RAF dispatch rider and as an ambulance driver for the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry Corps. Basil Murray (1903–1937), journalist, Liberal candidate and friend of Evelyn Waugh.[67] His wife, Pauline, was a daughter of the artist Algernon Newton RA, and a sister of actor Robert Newton. Stephen (1908–1994), a radical lawyer, who married the architect Margaret Gillet. He married on 12 December 1918 Phyllis Evelyn Keller (1888–1977) at St John, Hampstead, England. Attended Oxford.

Service and Career

He joined Vickers Ltd in 1912 and was granted Royal Aero Club pilot's certificate No.750 in a Caudron biplane at The Ewen School, Hendon on 11 March 1914. On 4 August 1914 the United Kingdom entered the war against Germany when her troops failed to withdraw from neutral Belgium whose sovereignty the United Kingdom, France, and Prussia had guaranteed under the Treaty of London of 1839. Denis joined the Royal Naval Air Service on 5 August 1914 as a probationary Flight Sub-Lieutenant and was attached to the Naval Flying School, Eastchurch commanded by Wing Commander Charles R. Samson, one of the original first four British naval aviators for a Special Course of Instruction (in his case a refresher course) with six other probationaries. This was part of the preparations of Captain Murray Sueter (Director of the Air Department, Admiralty) to gather as many trained civilian pilots and available aircraft as possible, initially to defend London and the east coast of England. On 1 September 1914 Murray was transferred to Calshot Naval Air Station, the experimental seaplane base under Squadron Commander Arthur Longmore another of the original first four British naval aviators, for a course in flying seaplanes which he passed. On 16 September he was confirmed in his rank of Flight Sub-Lieutenant and was transferred to Felixstowe Naval Air Station, commanded by Flight Commander Charles Rathborne a former Royal Marine Light Infantry Officer, where he helped patrol the east coast with one other, more experienced pilot Flight Lieutenant Eric Nanson who was a former Naval Reserve Officer who had been flying since October 1913. Meanwhile in mid August Samson took eleven of his experienced pilots to Dunkirk from whence his aircraft and improvised armoured cars helped defend the Channel ports, harried the Germans, and bombed the Zeppelin sheds at Düsseldorf and Cologne plus gun positions, submarine depots, and seaplane sheds on the Belgian coast as part of Sueter's to counter the German airship and U-boat threats which was essentially the first British strategic air campaign. In the bombing of Ostend, Zeebrugge and Bruges in February 1915 but was shot down near to the Dutch coast, suffering burns, and interned at Groningen, the Netherlands. He was released due to periodontitis in 1917. Although he served in the Royal Air Force in 1919 and worked in the Air Historical Branch researching for Sir Walter Raleigh's official air history, he never fully recovered and died suddenly in March 1930. [66]

Awards and honours

Mentioned in Dispatches for his work in the bombing of Ostend, Zeebrugge and Bruges in February 1915

References

• Captain Denis George Murray Royal Naval Air Service at Find a Grave