Life
John Macmurray was born on 16 February 1891 at Maxwelltown in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland into a strict Presbyterian family. His father was employed by the Inland Revenue Department as an excise officer. In 1899 the family moved to Aberdeen, where the young Macmurray attended Aberdeen Grammar School (1903 to 1905) and Robert Gordon's College (1905 to 1909). He graduated from the University of Glasgow with First-class honours in Classics and was awarded a Snell Exhibition to attend Balliol College, Oxford in 1913. His tutor at Balliol was A. D. Lindsay
When war with Germany was declared in 1914, Macmurray enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps. In August 1915 he was sent to France with the 58th Field Ambulance as part of the 19th (Western) Division of the British Expeditionary Force. In June 1916 he was awarded a commission as Second Lieutenant in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and was sent to the Battle of the Somme. Macmurray married Elizabeth Hyde Campbell in London during a three-day leave in October 1916. He was seriously wounded in battle near Arras on 28 March 1918 and was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry.
While on leave recovering from a broken ankle in 1917, Macmurray was invited to give a sermon in an unidentified North London church. He preached on the importance of preparing for post-war reconciliation with the enemy rather than exacting vengeance. The sermon was coldly received by the congregation and Macmurray saw their reaction as indicating a lack of true Christianity in the institutional churches. Because of this experience, Macmurray determined not to be a member of any church, while continuing to maintain his strong Christian convictions.
Macmurray completed his studies at Balliol after the war. He worked as a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Manchester from 1919 to 1920, followed by two years as Chair of Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. In 1922 he returned to Balliol as a Fellow and Tutor, succeeding his former tutor A.D. Lindsay as Jowett Lecturer in Philosophy. He left Oxford to become Grote Professor of Mind and Logic at University College London, the position he held from 1928 to 1944. He then moved to the University of Edinburgh, where he held the Chair of Moral Philosophy until his retirement in 1958.
Macmurray and his wife had no children. After his retirement they moved to the village of Jordans, Buckinghamshire, where they both joined the Society of Friends. In 1970 they returned to Edinburgh, where Macmurray died on 21 June 1976.
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