David King Murray, Lord Birnam
{{Short description|Scottish advocate and judge}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = The Honourable
| name = Lord Birnam
| honorific-suffix = FRSE
| image =
| imagesize =
| office = Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland
| term_start = 3 July 1945
| term_end = 1955
| nominator =
| monarch = George VI
Elizabeth II
| predecessor =
| successor =
| office2 = Member of Parliament for Midlothian & Peebles Northern
| term_start2 = 11 February 1943
| term_end2 = 15 June 1945
| nominator2 =
| monarch2 =
| predecessor2 = John Colville
| successor2 = Lord John Hope
| office3 = Solicitor General for Scotland
| term_start3 = 10 June 1941
| term_end3 = 3 July 1945
| nominator3 =
| monarch3 =
| predecessor3 = James Reid
| successor3 = Daniel Blades
| office4 = Chairman of the Scottish Land Court
| term_start4 = 10 May 1938
| term_end4 = 10 June 1941
| nominator4 =
| monarch4 =
| predecessor4 = Lord MacGregor Mitchell
| successor4 = Lord Gibson
| birth_date = {{birth date|1884|03|29|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Bothwell, Lanarkshire
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1955|06|05|1884|03|29|df=yes}}
| death_place =
| birthname = Thomas David King Murray
| nationality = Scottish
| spouse = Edith Lilian Archer
| party =
| relations = James Murray (father)
| children =
| residence =
| alma_mater = University of Glasgow
| occupation =
| profession = Advocate
| religion =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
Thomas David King Murray, Lord Birnam, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|FRSE|}} (29 March 1884 – 5 June 1955), known as Lord Murray between 1938 and 1941 and Sir David King Murray between 1941 and 1945, was a Scottish advocate and judge who served for two years as Unionist Member of Parliament (MP).
Early life
King Murray was born on 29 March 1884, the son of James Murray of Greenknowe, Bothwell, Lanrkshire who was a merchant in Glasgow. He was educated at Hamilton Academy and the Glasgow High School.
He graduated from the University of Glasgow with an MA in 1904, a BSc in 1905 and an LLB in 1908.
Career
King Murray was trained as a solicitor in Glasgow with the company of Russell & Duncan, WS. He was admitted as an advocate on 18 March 1910, the same day as the future Lord President Wilfrid Normand.
In World War I, King Murray served as a Lieutenant in the RNVR. After the war, he resumed his legal practice and was Junior Counsel to the Treasury in Scotland from 1927 to 1928. He was then Sheriff-Substitute of Lanarkshire at Airdrie from 1928 until he became a King's Counsel in August 1933. He then resigned as sheriff to return to practice in the Court of Session.
Having taken silk, King Murray was a Senior Advocate Depute (prosecutor) from 1936 to 1938. He was regarded as one of the leading King's Counsels of his day.
In May 1938, he appointed as Chairman of the Scottish Land Court, succeeding the late Lord MacGregor Mitchell. On his appointment, The Scotsman newspaper noted that the new judge had "taken a prominent part in political work for the Unionist Party".
He took the judicial title Lord Murray, and chaired the court until June 1941, when he joined the wartime coalition government as Solicitor General for Scotland. He dropped the judicial title Lord Murray, and was knighted in the King's Birthday Honours. Murray was succeeded at the Land Court by Robert Gibson, another former pupil of the Hamilton Academy.
He was knighted by King George VI in 1941. In the same year he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Thomas Graham Robertson, Lord Robertson, James Pickering Kendall, Thomas James Jehu and George Freeland Barbour Simpson.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=22 October 2017|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}
He was Chairman of the Scottish Coalfields Committee from 1942 to 1944.
He was Solicitor General for Scotland from 1941 to 1945, and was elected at a closely fought by-election in 1943 as the Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) for Midlothian and Peebles North. He was knighted in 1941. Murray retired from the House of Commons at the 1945 general election and was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland and Lord of Session in 1945, with the judicial title Lord Birnam.
Family
In 1946 he married Edith Lillian Archer.
His nephew was Ronald King Murray, Lord Murray.{{Cite news|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-lord-ronald-king-murray-politician-and-lawyer-1-4258398|title = Obituary: Lord Ronald King Murray, politician and lawyer| newspaper=The Scotsman }}
Sources
References
{{reflist
| colwidth = 35em
| refs =
| url = http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/19080422/352/0007
| title = Glasgow University Celebrations. The Spring Graduation
| newspaper = The Scotsman
| date = 22 April 1908
| page = 7
| via = British Newspaper Archive
|url-access=subscription
| access-date = 11 June 2016
}}
| url = http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/19100319/531/0008
| title = Faculty of Advocates
| newspaper = The Scotsman
| date = 19 March 1910
| page = 8
| via = British Newspaper Archive
|url-access=subscription
| access-date = 11 June 2016
}}
| url = http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000577/19330801/074/0006
| title = New Scottish K.C. Appointments
| newspaper = Aberdeen Journal
| date = 1 August 1933
| page = 6
| via = British Newspaper Archive
|url-access=subscription
| access-date = 11 June 2016
}}
| url = http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000577/19330929/045/0006
| title = Two New Scottish Sheriffs
| newspaper = Aberdeen Journal
| date = 29 September 1933
| page = 6
| via = British Newspaper Archive
|url-access=subscription
| access-date = 11 June 2016
}}
| url = http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000577/19380511/068/0006
| title = New Chairman Of Land Court – Mr Thomas D.K. Murray Appointed
| newspaper = Aberdeen Journal
| date = 11 May 1938
| page = 6
| via = British Newspaper Archive
|url-access=subscription
| access-date = 11 June 2016
}}
| url = http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/19380511/120/0012
| title = Mr Murray – Land Court Appointment Confirmed
| newspaper = The Scotsman
| date = 11 May 1938
| page = 12
| via = British Newspaper Archive
|url-access=subscription
| access-date = 11 June 2016
}}
| url = http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000564/19381025/093/0006
| title = Points About People In The News – Speech covered two reigns
| newspaper = Dundee Courier
| date = 25 October 1938
| page = 6
| via = British Newspaper Archive
|url-access=subscription
| access-date = 8 June 2016
}}
| url = http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000564/19410606/053/0003
| title = Scottish Legal Changes
| newspaper = Dundee Courier
| date = 6 June 1941
| page = 3
| via = British Newspaper Archive
|url-access=subscription
| access-date = 11 June 2016
}}
| issue = 14440
| date = 4 May 1928
|page=523
| city = Edinburgh
}}
{{London Gazette | issue = 14992 | date = 18 August 1933 |page=681 | city = e }}
| issue = 15004
| date = 29 September 1933
|page=801
| city = Edinburgh
}}
| url = http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=lancs&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS204286209&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0
| title = News in Brief: New King's Counsel
| newspaper = The Times
| location = London, England
| issue = 46511
| date = 1 August 1933
| page = 12
| via = The Times Digital Archive
|url-access=subscription
| access-date = 10 June 2016
}}
| url = http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=lancs&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS303772331&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0
| title = Scottish Land Court Chairman
| newspaper = The Times
| location = London, England
| date = 11 May 1938
| issue = 47991
| page = 18
| via = The Times Digital Archive
|url-access=subscription
| access-date = 18 January 2016
}}
| url = http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=lancs&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS68368582&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0
| title = Lord Justice Clerk Appointed
| newspaper = The Times
| location = London, England
| date = 6 June 1941
| issue = 48945
| page = 4
| via = The Times Digital Archive
|url-access=subscription
| access-date = 18 January 2016
}}
| url = http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=lancs&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS136139975&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0
| title = Lord Birnam
| newspaper = The Times
| location = London, England
| issue = 53240
| date = 7 June 1955
| page = 8
| via = The Times Digital Archive
|url-access=subscription
| access-date = 10 June 2016
}}
| url = http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH21328&type=P
| title = Thomas David King Murray
| website = University of Glasgow Story
| publisher = University of Glasgow
| access-date = 10 June 2016
}}
{{London Gazette | issue = 15491 | date = 13 May 1938 |page=391 | city = e }}
{{London Gazette | issue = 35184 | date = 6 June 1941 |pages=3281–3282 | city = London | supp = y }}
{{London Gazette | issue = 15820 | date = 13 June 1941 |page=305 | city = e }}
}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
| title = Member of Parliament for Midlothian and Peebles North
| before = John Colville | after = Lord John Hope
}}
{{s-legal}}
{{succession box|title=Solicitor General for Scotland|before=James Reid|after=Daniel Blades|years=1941–1945}}
{{s-end}}
{{Chairs of the Scottish Land Court}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, David King}}
Category:Chairs of the Scottish Land Court
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Category:Members of the Faculty of Advocates
Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
Category:Ministers in the Churchill caretaker government, 1945
Category:Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945
Category:People educated at Hamilton Academy
Category:People educated at the High School of Glasgow
Category:20th-century King's Counsel
Category:Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War I
Category:Scottish King's Counsel
Category:Solicitors general for Scotland