Gilbert Murray | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | George Gilbert Aimé Murray 2 January 1866 |
| Died | 20 May 1957 (aged 91) Oxford, England |
| Burial place | Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey |
| Nationality | British |
| Academic background | |
| Education | Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, England |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Oxford |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Ancient Greece |
| Parents |
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| Relatives | Polly Toynbee (great granddaughter) |
George Gilbert Aimé Murray OM FBA (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British[1] classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece, perhaps the leading authority in the first half of the twentieth century. He is the basis for the character of Adolphus Cusins in his friend George Bernard Shaw's play Major Barbara, and also appears as the chorus figure in Tony Harrison's play Fram.
He served as President of the Ethical Union (now Humanists UK) from 1929 to 1930 and was a delegate at the inaugural World Humanist Congress in 1952 which established Humanists International. He was a leader of the League of Nations Society and the League of Nations Union, which promoted the League of Nations in Britain.
Murray died in Oxford in 1957, aged 91. His ashes were interred in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey.[2]
- ^ Australian by birth, he returned to Australia in the 1890s for a visit. It has been lamented that "perhaps the most famous Australian of his time, [he] expressed no interest whatever in Australia".Geoffrey Partington (Spring 2002). "Sir Walter Crocker at One Hundred". National Observer. No. 54. Melbourne. pp. 45–58. ISSN 1442-5548 – via Informit., also here at Adelaide Institute
- ^ "Gilbert Murray", Westminster Abbey