A stray and scandal: John Murray Prior? Bertram Murray?
If you enter 'John Murray Prior' into The National Library of Australia's wonderful search engine, Trove, you will get numerous references to various court cases. A few references call him John Murray-Prior but mostly the hyphen is omitted. His death certificate names John de M.[Montmorency?] Murray-Prior as his father; his mother as Nina J. Murray-Prior.1) The birth of Coralie de V. Murray-Prior, with father John and mother Annie, was registered in 19082). Who was John and was his second name 'Murray' or his surname 'Murray-Prior'? He excelled in re-inventing himself so it would be tricky - but interesting - to know. When he died in 1933, he was referred to as Bertram Murray, formerly known as John Murray Prior. By then he was wealthy, lived in the prestigious Eastern Sydney suburb of Rose Bay, and was described as a 'financial agent'.3)
John's major public scandal was widely reported in the newspapers throughout Australia. It involved his alleged abduction of Jessie Stewart McDonald, a 16-year-old girl in 1898. He was then around 37 years old, described as a money lender, was separated from his wife and living with another woman. Jessie was employed as a nursemaid to John and the woman's baby and was reportedly seduced by him. Jessie herself repeatedly insisted that she had voluntarily entered into their sexual relationship.4) Her mother Annie McDonald insisted that her daughter had been forcibly abducted. The Court found John guilty, sentencing him to three years jail.5) John appealed but without success.6) At the same time, he was also in court accused of forgery.7) 1898 was quite a year for him and the wide publicity could only have mortified the family whose name he shared - or did he?
John continued to hit the headlines but only once again for a sexual misdemeanour. That exception was in 1902, around a year after he was released from jail, and this time it was a charge of indecent assault of a woman at Manly.8) The case against him was dismissed for lack of evidence.9)
In the early years of the 20th century, he was regularly in the courts - and newspapers - for his business dealings. They are too numerous to mention all, but the following examples give a flavour of the publicity. In 1902, he was charged with breaking and entering when recovering money owed him.10) He was acquitted 11) though his assistants were also charged which gave the sensationalist newspaper The Truth the chance to produce the headline 'ALLEGED BREAKING AND ENTERING. MURRAY PRIOR AND HIS BUMS BEFORE THE BEAK [slang for judge].'12). In 1904, the newspapers loved it when an aggrieved debtor, a European Count, threatened to horsewhip him.13) In 1908, there were again repeated headlines when he claimed that money he had lent a woman gave him an interest in her inheritance. By then his business name was A. B. Murray and Company.14)
By 1914, his business advertisements ran:
BERTRAM MURRAY, 37 ELIZABETH STREET (Between King and Hunter streets),SYDNEY, N.S.W.
For immediate advances on Wills, Bequests;or letters advising same.
Cash prior to and during collection. Send full particulars when writing.15)
In the 1920s and 1930s, the NSW Government Gazette has numerous notices that land he owned was being compulsorily sold due to unpaid rates: his actions do not appear to indicate a lack of money, and most pre-dated the Great Depression. The conclusion is that he did not think the land worth keeping.16)
John Murray Prior, by then known as Bertram Murray, financial agent, of Rose Bay, died on April 18, 1933, aged 72 years. He left a will that indicated complicated family arrangements, influential connections and philanthropic intent. It was sworn for probate purposes in NSW at £99,000 net and £100,000 gross. The list of beneficiaries included his widow, known both as Annie Murray and Annie Murray Prior, and Bertram Murray Prior, of Sydney. Bertram A. M. Prior was John and Annie's son, born a year before the alleged abduction of Jessie McDonald.17) There were bequests to four solicitors, servants and to numerous others with well-known names (e.g. £500 to A. J. Vindin, Turramurra and £125 to Miss Windeyer, Double Bay). Two of the bequests may have been children he had with Jessie: they were to Jean McDonald of Edgecliff and Ronnie Macdonald of New Zealand. Charitable bequests included £400 to the Salvation Army, Sydney, and £350 each to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the Women's Hospital (Crown Street). Mrs Jessie Murray who shared his address at Rose Bay received a generous inheritance, more than his widow. Bequests which suggest a connection to the Murray-Priors were to his nephew John Brownrigg de Montmorency Prior [but note there was no Murray in his name] of South Rhodesia and to three nieces (Nina, Teresian and Eileen, daughters of Harvey Murray Prior - note this is Harvey, not Hervey M-P, TLM-P's son.). His grandchildren, Swire and Adel Murray Prior, also received generous legacies.18)
So, who was John Murray Prior/Bertram Murray? His family here and in South Africa had various surnames and 'Murray Prior' could easily be a second given name and surname as much as a single, later hyphenated surname. The addition of 'de Montmorency' may only indicate a desire to align with that powerful French family, as we have seen when discussing 'Air castles': Royalty and the Butler, Morres and Lodge families. Whatever the case, some of John's descendants have the surname Murray-Prior and are now part of the (very) extended family.