1921: Professor Gilbert Murray, LLD, FBA, MA, OM

Updated August 2023

“I could not give up Greek; but for the rest I seemed to have no choice. I saw what War was; I saw many of my best friends and pupils killed in the flower of youth; I saw the cruelties, the lapse into barbarism, and the ultimate poisoning of all human relations that followed from the Great War. I had to give what powers I possessed to the movement for making secure some peaceful life for mankind, not merely avoiding war, but preventing war by the formation of a Society of Nations.” 

Gilbert Murray, speaking at a dinner held on 13 February 1936 in honour of his 70th birthday.

Professor Gilbert Murray was an important figure in philosophy and classics, and Greek in particular, and from the biographies I have discovered, he had a remarkable life and varied career, although he was not particularly a geographer, and is well remembered even today as well as being honoured during his lifetime.

He was born in Australia, but was sent to study in the UK, with some time spent being educated at the Merchant Taylor's School.

As with several Presidents I have written about at this time, he didn't have an obvious connection with geography and education. He was another person involved in this period of change in the Association, when the plan was to bring in distinguished outsiders with geographic interests to strengthen the standing of the Association.

Murray was the Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford (Somerville College) from 1908 to 1936 (so was in post during his time at the GA), and also a Professor of Greek at Glasgow University. They have a Gilbert Murray Memorial Lecture which is held every three years.

He seems to have been quite supportive of female scholars.

On #IWD2022 I'm thinking of all the women who, though 'certainly more remarkable and interesting than the average of the men,' were held back in their education simply because they were women. The quote is from Gilbert Murray, professor of Greek at Oxford. pic.twitter.com/AymPwuIumq

— Dr Daisy Dunn (@DaisyfDunn) March 8, 2022

His Presidential Address also had a 'Classical' feel to it.
It was called
Orbis Terrestris

Source: https://archive.org/details/geography11a12geoguoft/page/n33/mode/2up

This is an interesting address, which has very little actual 'geography' in it to begin with, but explores some ways in which the Earth was conceived of by early scholars.
He uses less than PC language about 'foreigners", although he says that some of our views on them comes from not really understanding the differences and the similarities between us.

"With increased knowledge of the world", he says, "we get to see the reasons for the differences of custom, and they cease to be so upsetting."

However, the next section is not quite as forgiving. "It is the same with physical characteristics. Europeans are often conscious of the smell of negroes and dislike negroes accordingly."
And then redeems himself again.
"But a very little anthropology teaches us that all human beings smell.... a Japanese waiting maid is apt to fall in a faint at the smell of a number of Europeans... When knowledge and understanding come in, the peculiar sense of horror connected with the unknown vanishes."

He continues by speculating on relations between countries which may be to come, referring to the League of Nations, and possible relationships between Africa and Europe with regards to "exploitation".
I came across this film of Murray speaking, on YouTube.

This is very early stuff.... Hilaire Belloc's clip on his post from 1915 is slightly earlier, but there is only audio of him.
Could this be the first of the GA Presidents for whom some video footage remains? I think it must be! 
Not sure when this was filmed, but obviously quite a long time ago, and when Gilbert Murray was older.




One of his lasting legacies is that he was an original and active member of the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, founded in 1942, which later became Oxfam.

Another profoundly important GA Presidential contribution - no pressure then...

He was deeply affected by the First World War, and became one of the leading figures in promoting world peace through the League of Nations, as did the President who came after him (of which far more to come later)

He was a particular scholar of the poetry of Shelley.

He was awarded the French Order of Merit (OM) - pictured to the right... again, I'm not sure of any other Presidents who were similarly honoured.

He is buried in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey - what an honour for anyone!

I may need to go and visit this at some point. Any images of the memorial welcome.

Are any other GA Presidents similarly honoured in the place of their burial?

The inscription on the grave is translated as:

GILBERT MURRAY O.M. An example of true humanity, while he lived the letters of the ancient Greeks lived again, nor was there any reason to despair of the harmony of peoples. 1866 1957

References
https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Gilbert_Murray

https://gilbertmurraytrust.weebly.com/about-gilbert-murray.html - Gilbert Murray Trust

Somerville College: http://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/archive/2011/09/22/gilbert-murray/ - source of the image, to which they hold the copyright - used here under Fair Use.
https://universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH2276&type=P
 - Glasgow University

His papers are held at the Bodleian Library: http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/modern/murray/murray.html

GA Presidential Address:
“Orbis Terrestris.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 11, no. 1, 1921, pp. 5–14. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41553245.

Biography of Gilbert Murray, written by Duncan Wilson


As always, if anyone has anything else to add about Murray's contributions to the GA, particularly during his time in office, get in touch.

Updated August 2023

A Somerville College link here:

In 1920, the University relented. Emily Penrose became one of the first five women to receive their Oxford degrees, presented to her by staunch ally and President of the Somerville Council, Professor Gilbert Murray. pic.twitter.com/lvdRVXMgrj

— Somerville College (@SomervilleOx) January 26, 2023

Shelleyan 57: Regius Professor of Greek and humanist @Humanists_UK Gilbert Murray (1866–1957). He corresponded with the Shelley editor Neville Rogers on matters Shelleyan. Murray wrote that ‘to a man who has once read himself into Shelley, the world never looks the same again’. pic.twitter.com/EOMa9Cw2hE

— Bysshe Inigo Coffey (@shelleyscholar) December 3, 2022

 

Our friends in Glasgow are pleased to announce an upcoming Gilbert Murray Lecture on 6th October.

Poet, critic and translator A. E. Stallings will deliver the fifth triennial lecture in honour of Gilbert Murray, Professor of Greek at the University of Glasgow from 1889 to 1899. pic.twitter.com/0zqVMmPAEc

— Classical Association of Scotland (@CAScotia) September 20, 2022

An intriguing connection here with the Second World War and anti-Nazi activity.

Bloomsbury, 1933, and each week my father & his pals were going to meetings & marches to try to do something, anything, about the rising anti-semitism in Germany. Everyone was fully aware of what was happening. Fully aware. This was six years before the outbreak of war. pic.twitter.com/mXJ8ICnVGO

— Anne Louise Avery (@AnneLouiseAvery) October 28, 2018

And an even more interesting (perhaps) link here is to the formation of the charity Oxfam. This started as the Oxford Fund for Famine Relief, and Gilbert Murray was in the group that founded it, along with Vera Brittain and Edith Pye.

Oxfam began from the Oxford Committee for famine relief, setup by professor of Greek, Gilbert Murray, to help the starving Greeks in WWII.

— Pavlos (@pavlosant) November 27, 2014

I looked at this in more detail:

On January 27, 1942, George Bell, the bishop of Chichester, spoke to the House of Lords in support of an appeal for Greece. Later that day the House of Commons announced that a shipment of wheat would be sent from Egypt, through the Allied blockade, and on to Greece. Within several weeks, regular shipments of supplies began to reach the devastated nation.

Writer Vera Brittain, who had been involved in humanitarian issues as well, believed that a relief campaign by pacifists Pacifism would not be taken seriously by the British parliament. She encouraged the development of an organization, which would convey a sense of seriousness and focus. Members of the Friends’ Service Council Friends’ Service Council[Friends Service Council](the permanent relief organization of the Quakers) met on April 22 to discuss forming a national famine relief committee; the planned organization was announced on May 29. Longtime Quaker activist Edith M. Pye was named the fledgling committee’s honorary secretary, and she worked to ensure the group’s success by securing supporters.

On October 5, the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief had its first meeting. 

Founding members included Bell and Gilbert Murray, professor of Greek at Oxford University, among many others. 

The committee’s initial objectives were to obtain information on food conditions in Greece and to promote food relief in other occupied countries. In December, London businessman Cecil Jackson-Cole was appointed the new honorary secretary of Oxfam. Jackson-Cole remained a driving force behind the committee for many years, and in 1947 he would help to open the world’s first permanent charity-run gift shop (operated by Oxfam). Situated in Oxfam’s main offices on Broad Street, the store was a drop-off location for donations. Profits from the sale of donated goods went directly to the organization to support its relief efforts.

So a GA President indirectly helped create the charity shop as we know it...


Source: https://wikisummaries.org/oxford-committee-for-famine-relief-is-founded/?utm_content=cmp-true