William Augustus Murray Prior

William was baptised at Bray,_Berkshire\Bray in Berkshire on 19 January 1825.¹⁾ His baptism as a three-year old is further confirmation that his parents were evangelical Anglicans.

William M-P became an ensign ²⁾ in the 59th (2nd Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot. His regiment is confirmed by some loose blank pages, originally part of a book, with the inscription ‘W.A. Murray Prior. 59th Regt.”. He died at Portsmouth from a gunshot wound on 5 February 1844 – presumably an accident when training. His brother TLM-P wrote in a prayer book he owned that William died when he was 22 years, 2 months and 17 days old – a precision which suggests profound grief. William, like his father, was a career soldier - but also an artist. The seriousness with which William took his art is seen by a very large, thick, heavy album in which he collected his sketches and examples of art. That large volume is in possession of Geoffrey M-P. I have a smaller volume engraved ‘Bruges 1841’ containing lithographs of sketches of life in Bruges. A reputed self-portrait of William now belongs to Helen Wiessner, Glenhaven.