John Clark Murray

{{Infobox academic

| honorific_prefix =

| name = John Clark Murray

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| image = Dr. John Clark Murray, Montreal, QC, 1884.jpg

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| caption = Murray in Montreal in 1884

| birth_date = {{birth date|1836|03|19|df=y}}

| birth_place = Scotland

| death_date = {{death date and age|1917|11|20|1836|03|19|df=y}}

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| spouse = {{married|Margaret Polson Murray|1865}}

| children = 5

| education = University of Glasgow
University of Edinburgh

| workplaces =McGill University
Queen's University

}}

John Clark Murray {{post-nominals|country=CAN|FRSC}} (19 March 1836 – 20 November 1917) was a Scottish-Canadian philosopher and professor. He held the Chair of Mental and Moral Philosophy at Queen's University from 1862 to 1872, and at McGill University from 1872 until 1903. During his academic career, Murray became the first professor at Queen's to offer courses to women; however, his equality advocacy caused unrest among the male professors. He was married to Margaret Polson Murray who founded the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire.

Early life

Murray was born on 19 March 1836 in Scotland. He attended Paisley Grammar School in Renfrewshire, Scotland, and was educated at the University of Glasgow and University of Edinburgh.{{cite book |author1=John R. Shook |title=Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers |date=1 January 2005 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=9781843710370 |page=1781 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ijpj1tB3Qr0C&pg=PA1781 |accessdate=28 January 2020}}

Career

After further study at Heidelberg University and University of Göttingen, Murray was appointed a Professor of philosophy and Chair of Mental and Moral Philosophy at Queen's College, Kingston in Canada.{{cite book |author1=Henry James Morgan |title=The Canadian Men and Women of the Time: A Handbook of Canadian Biography |date=1898 |publisher=W. Briggs |page=672 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0UKGAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA672 |accessdate=28 January 2020}} In 1869, he became the first professor at Queen's to offer courses to women, nearly a decade before the University of Toronto followed suit.{{cite web |title=Women at Queen's, Admission of |url=https://www.queensu.ca/encyclopedia/w/women-queens-admission |website=queensu.ca |accessdate=28 January 2020 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20191011225911/https://www.queensu.ca/encyclopedia/w/women-queens-admission |archivedate=11 October 2019}} Murray stayed at Queen's until 1871 when he accepted a position at McGill University as their Frothingham Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy.{{cite web |title=McGill Teaching and Research |url=http://www.archives.mcgill.ca/resources/guide/vol2_3/gen01.htm#MURRAY,%20JOHN%20CLARK |website=archives.mcgill.ca |accessdate=28 January 2020}} Upon succeeding a retiring William Turnbull Leach, Murray became the only philosophy professor at the university until 1886.{{cite web |title=MURRAY, JOHN CLARK |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/murray_john_clark_14E.html |website=biographi.ca |accessdate=28 January 2020}} As a result of his academic achievements, Murray was the recipient of an honorary LL.D from the University of Glasgow.{{cite news|title=Honorary degrees|date=May 22, 1873|newspaper=Kingston Daily News|location=Ontario|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-may-22-1873-1526418/}}{{free access}}

At McGill, Murray was not deterred from continuing to advocate for women to attend university, despite pushback from fellow professors.{{cite book |author1=Leslie Armour |author2=Elizabeth Trott |title=The Faces of Reason: An Essay on Philosophy and Culture in English Canada, 1850-1950 |date=1 January 2006 |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press |isbn=9780889208957 |page=133–134 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mF89DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 |accessdate=28 January 2020}} He also lectured at the Montreal Ladies' Educational Association, the Kingston Ladies Educational Association, the Glenmore Summer School of Philosophy, the Cooper Union and the People's Institute in New York City, and the Presbyterian College of Montreal. His continued advocacy caused problems between him and McGill Principal John William Dawson, which forced Murray to retire from teaching in 1903. The height of their confrontations occurred during a women's graduation ceremony, where Murray spoke favourably of including women in men's spaces at McGill. Dawson described Murray's comments as "subversive of the morals and discipline of the university".{{cite news |title=From the archives: First female students at McGill were segregated |url=https://montrealgazette.com/sponsored/mtl-375th/from-the-archives-first-female-students-at-mcgill-were-segregated |accessdate=28 January 2020 |publisher=Montreal Gazette |date=5 May 2012}} Murray was also one of the original members of the Royal Society of Canada.