Myles Thornton Murray
Myles Thornton Murray (1886-1919)
1919 Obituary [1]
MYLES THORNTON MURRAY, M.SC., was born on October 24, 1886, at Low Fell, Durham.
His family moved to Birmingham in June 1887. After being privately taught, he went to King Edward's School, Aston, in 1898. While there he won one of the Foundation Scholarships, and then went on to the University of Birmingham, where he studied for three years under Professor Turner, and was awarded the Bowen Research Scholarship in Metallurgy, taking his B.Sc. degree in 1908, and his M.Sc. degree in 1909. When the latter degree was conferred he had already sailed for South Africa, where he had a post in the Johannesburg School of Mines, with Professor Stanley, as Lecturer and Demonstrator in Mining and Metallurgy, from 1909 to 1914.
In 1914 he came home on leave, and after a visit to America reached England just as war was declared. His health would not allow of his going on active service, and he took a post with Messrs. Muntz's Metal Company. In this position he did most responsible and highly important work during the years of the war—work which he was right in the midst of when he was taken ill in January, and was operated upon by Colonel Barling.
He struggled back to work after that, but only for a little time ; and died at Hessle, Yorkshire, on June 6, 1919.
He was elected to membership of the Institute in 1910, and took an active part in its deliberations whilst he was in England, and also contributed to the Proceedings of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. In 1909 he read before the Institute of Metals, jointly with Professor T. Turner, a paper on "The Copper-Zinc Alloys."
Mr. Murray, at the time of his seizure, had in hand several researches which he had intended completing with a view to submitting his results to the Institute for publication. He possessed an unusually clear intellect and had great energy. His prospects as a man of science were brilliant. By his death, which is deeply regretted by a wide circle of friends and fellow metallurgists, a promising career has been cut short at an early age.