Murray Arthur Image 1 Queen’s Park 1907

Description

Aberdeen born centre half Arthur Murray was an amateur footballer who began his football career with local junior club Victoria United from where he joined Scottish League club Arbroath in 1903, winning The Scottish Qualifying Cup with them, making 36 appearances for The Red Lichties. He joined Forfar Athletic in 1905 where he won The Forfashire Cup in 1906, and from where he signed for famous amateur club Queen’s Park in the 1906 close season. He scored 6 goals in 131 matches for The Spiders before retiring in 1913. He was later a member of the club’s committee and served as Club President between 1921 and 1923.

In June 1916, in the middle of the First World War, Murray enlisted as a private in The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He was commissioned into The Gordon Highlanders as a lieutenant in January 1917 and was captured by the Germans during the German spring offensive in March 1918. Murray was released at the end of the War and was discharged from the army in January 1919.

Murray’s younger brother Herbert was also a footballer, a forward with among others Arbroath, Clyde, Aberdeen, Queen’s Park, Motherwell and St Johnstone. In early 1915, with the First World War underway, Murray enlisted in The Gordon Highlanders and received a commission on 9th August 1915. He was severely wounded on the Western Front in mid-1915 and sent back to Britain, where he served as a musketry instructor. He returned to the front in April 1917 and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery in the field during the German spring offensive in March 1918. Murray was serving with the rank of captain when he was killed in the Bois de Courton, near Épernay, on 20th July 1918, during the Second Battle of the Marne. He is buried in Marfaux British Cemetery.