scandal [Murray-Prior History Wiki]

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====== 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.((BDM, registration number 8340/1933)) The birth of Coralie de V. Murray-Prior, with father John and mother Annie, was registered in 1908((BDM, registration number 9070/1908)). 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'.((PROBATE JURISDICTION. (1933, November 10). Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales, p.4027. Retrieved 27.11.2017 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223540016))\\

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.((//Chronicle// 30 April 1898 p.26; Amanda Kaladelfos,'Call all male offenders by their right name': masculinity and the age of consent', //Melbourne Historical Journal//, 2009.)) Her mother Annie McDonald insisted that her daughter had been forcibly abducted. The Court found John guilty, sentencing him to three years jail.((e.g. //Coolgardie Miner//, 14 June 1898, p.5;//The Murrurundi Times and Liverpool Plains Gazette// 18 June 1898 p2.;//The Daily Telegraph//, 5 August 1898 p.4.)) John appealed but without success.((e.g. //The Maitland Daily Mercury//, 28 July 1898, p.3, 11 August 1898 p.3 and 12 August 1898, p.3; //Evening News//, 13 December 1898, p.6; //Dubbo Dispatch and Wellington Independent//, 17 June 1898, p.4; //The Armidale Chronicle//, 11 June 1898 p.4 and 13 August 1898 p.4.)) At the same time, he was also in court accused of forgery.((e.g.// Evening News// 2 April 1889 p.6.)) 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.((e.g. //Goulburn Evening Penny Post// 9 October 1902 p.4; //National Advocate//, 10 September 1902 p.3.)) The case against him was dismissed for lack of evidence.((e.g. //Evening News// 8 October 1902 p.4.))\\

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.((e.g.//Truth//, 21 September 1902 p.6; //The Australian Star//, 24 April 1903 p.6.)) He was acquitted ((//The Sydney Morning Herald// 24 April 1903 p.7.)) 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].'((5 April 1903 p.2.)). In 1904, the newspapers loved it when an aggrieved debtor, a European Count, threatened to horsewhip him.((//The Australian Star// 22 June 1904 p.5.)) 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.((e.g. //Evening News//, 12 Aug 1908, p.7.)) \\

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.((This ad was in a newspaper targeting poor working class people: //The Australian Worker//, 1 January 1914 p.16.))\\

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.((e.g. Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales, 9 December 1921 [Issue No.181] p.7094, 29 August 1930 [Issue No.121] p.3507.))\\

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.((BDM, registration 9179/1888.)) 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 [[wp>Southern_Rhodesia|South Rhodesia]] and to three nieces (Nina, Teresian and Eileen, daughters of Harvey Murray Prior - note this is H**a**rvey, not H**e**rvey M-P, TLM-P's son.). His grandchildren, Swire and Adel Murray Prior, also received generous legacies.((//The Sun//, 19 October 1933, p.17.))\\

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 [[edward_i_butler_morres_and_lodge_families|'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.