Basil Murray

Basil Andrew Murray (1902 – 1937), was a British editor, journalist and Liberal Party politician.

Background

Murray was the second son of the scholar Professor Gilbert and Lady Mary Howard, daughter of the 9th Earl of Carlisle. He was educated at Charterhouse School and New College, Oxford (Classical Scholarship and Charles Oldham Prize). In 1927 he married Pauline Mary Newton, daughter of the artist of Algernon Newton.^[1] Their daughters were the writers Ann Paludan (1928-2014) and Venetia Murray (1932–2004). His sister Rosalind was the first wife of Arnold J. Toynbee.

Professional career

Murray was Editor of Oxford Outlook from 1920-23. He was Equerry to H.I.H. Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu of Japan during his visit to Europe.^[2] As a journalist, he covered the Spanish Civil War from the Republican side, making radio broadcasts from Valencia.

Political career

Murray was employed at the Liberal Campaign Department in 1927.^[3] He was Liberal candidate at the St Marylebone by-election, 1928. He was Liberal candidate for the Argyllshire division at the 1929 and 1935 General Elections.^[4]

Murray became involved in anti-Fascist politics after Hitler's rise to power and in 1936 managed to incite a riot by heckling the British fascist Oswald Mosley during a speech at Oxford University.^[5] He was subsequently tried and convicted of breach of the peace in a proceeding described by the philosopher Isaiah Berlin as a disastrous miscarriage of justice.^[6]

Electoral record

St Marylebone by-election, 1928

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Rt Hon. James Rennell Rodd	12,859	56.1
	Labour	David Amyas Ross	6,721	29.4
	Liberal	Basil Andrew Murray	3,318	14.5
Majority			6,138	26.7
Turnout			53,107	43.1
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Argyllshire^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Frederick Alexander Macquisten	11,108	44.1	−2.1
	Liberal	Basil Andrew Murray	8,089	32.1	+1.0
	Labour	James Laird Kinloch	6,001	23.8	+1.1
Majority			3,019	12.0
Turnout			25,198	62.7	0.0
	Unionist hold		Swing	-1.6

General Election 1935: Argyllshire ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Frederick Alexander Macquisten	13,260	53.6	N/A
	Liberal	Basil Andrew Murray	11,486	46.4	N/A
Majority			1,774	7.2
Turnout			24,746	56.6	N/A
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Murray provided Evelyn Waugh with the model and first name for his anti-hero, Basil Seal, star of the novels Black Mischief and Put Out More Flags.^[9]

He died in Spain, purportedly of pneumonia. According to a memoir by journalist Claud Cockburn, however, Murray was bitten to death by his pet ape while lying in a drunken stupor in a Valencia hotel.^[10]

References

1. The Liberal Year Book, 1929
2. The Liberal Year Book, 1929
3. The Liberal Year Book, 1929
4. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
5. Anne De Courcy, Diana Mosley: Mitford Beauty, British Fascist, Hitler's Angel (2003), pp. 163-64.
6. Isaiah Berlin, Letters 1928–1946, vol. 1, p. 179.
7. The Times, 3 June 1929
8. Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
9. Robert Reginald Garnett, From Grimes to Brideshead (1990), p. 86.
10. Claud Cockburn at 100, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 November 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-16.