Murray, Henry Alan
Lance Corporal
No. 18/20311, 12th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Monday 15 April 1918 (aged 19)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium (Panel 138 to 140 & 162 to 162 A & 163 A)
Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) War Memorial
Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) Book of Remembrance
Window in St Mary and St Columba Church, Withen’s Lane, Liscard, Merseyside
BIOGRAPHY
In the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 – 1919 database it is recorded that Henry Alan Murray lived in Newtownards and enlisted at Clandeboye.
Henry Alan Murray was baptised on 22 September 1899 in St Mary and St Columba Parish Church of England Church, Withen’s Lane, Liscard, Merseyside, Cheshire. The family lived at Egremont in Cheshire.
Henry Alan Murray was the only son of Dr John James Goodalatte Murray FRCS and Mrs Isabel Murray (nee Bray) who were married on 16 March 1898 in St Paul’s Parish Church of England Church, Lancaster. Their daughter, Isabel Doreen Murray, was born on 30 May 1902, and she died on 10 March 1905.
In the 1911 census for England and Wales the Murray family was living at 112 Liscard Road, Liscard, Cheshire. John and Isabel had been married for 13 years, and had two children, one still living – Henry Alan Murray.
Henry Alan Murray was 12 when his father, Dr John James Goodalatte Murray, died of apoplexy on 14 October 1911. His mother Isabel died in November 1938. They were buried in Rake Lane Cemetery, Wallasey, Merseyside, as was their daughter Isabel. Henry Alan Murray is not commemorated on this family headstone.
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
ISABEL DOREEN
BELOVED DAUGHTER OF
DR J J GOODALATTE AND ISABEL MURRAY
BORN 30 MAY 1902, DIED 10 MARCH 1905
FOR EVER WITH THE LORD
ALSO, OF THE ABOVE
DR JOHN JAMES GOODALATTE MURRAY
DIED 14 OCTOBER 1911
ISABEL MURRAY
DIED NOVEMBER 1938
Henry Alan’s father, Dr John James Goodalatte Murray, had been married twice previously:
John James Goodalatte Murray and Anne Sarah Fetherston-Haugh Devenish were married on 17 October 1883 at St Augustine’s Parish Church of England Church, Lancaster. John was a son of Henry Murray MD of Belfast. Anne was a daughter of the late John Devenish JP from Stokestown, Co Roscommon.
Dr Murray was practising in Belfast when his wife, Anne Sarah Fetherston-Haugh Murray (nee Devenish), died of hydronephrosis at 3 College Square East, Belfast on 3 February 1887 (aged 34). She was buried in Belfast City Cemetery (Grave L 710). After her death Dr Murray practised in New Zealand and Australia.
John James Goodalatte Murray and Arabella Margaret Devenish were married in 1890 at Parkes, New South Wales, Australia, and they had a son who was born on 17 May 1892 at Errigal, Parkes.
Arabella Margaret Murray (nee Devenish) died on 12 June 1892 (aged 31) at Errigal, Parkes, Australia.
In the Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) Book of Remembrance it is recorded that Henry Alan Murray was born on 24 February 1899, he worked as a clerk, and he joined the Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) Officers’ Training Corps (OTC) on 14 March 1917.
He joined the 18th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles and went to the Front with the 12th Battalion in 108th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division. Lance Corporal Henry Alan Murray (No. 18/20311) was 19 when he was killed in action during the German Spring Offensive on 15 April 1918 and he has no known grave.
Lance Corporal Henry Alan Murray (No. 18/20311) is commemorated on the QUB War Memorial and in the QUB Book of Remembrance (Page 17). His widowed mother, Isabel (sometimes Isabella) Murray, was his sole legatee, and she lived at 115 Liverpool Road, Birkdale, Southport, Lancashire.
Lance Corporal Henry Alan Murray (No. 18/20311) is also commemorated on a memorial window in St Mary and St Columba Church of England Church, Withen’s Lane, Liscard, Merseyside
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN LOVING MEMORY OF
HENRY ALAN MURRAY ROYAL IRISH RIFLES BAPTISED AND
CONFIRMED IN THIS CHURCH WHO LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR
HIS COUNTRY AT MESSINES APRIL 15TH 1918 AGED 19 YEARS
He is not commemorated on the war memorial plaque for parishioners in that church.
There is a grave of family interest in Belfast City Cemetery (Grave L 710):
Casualty’s grandfather, Dr Henry Murray (aged 62) of 3 College Square East, died 14 February 1884.
N/K Murray (stillborn child of John and Anne Murray) died 12 June 1884.
Susannah Christian Murray (aged 3 days, child of John and Anne Murray) died 2 May 1885.
Anne Sarah Fetherston-Haugh Murray (aged 34) died 3 February 1887.
Christian Jane Milliken (aged 82) from Abbeylara Rectory, Co Longford, died 14 April 1905.