Murray George William

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Biografie:
George William Murray (1885- 1966)
G. W. Murray was born on September 9, 1885, and died on January 31 last. Educated at Westminster, he joined the Survey of Egypt in 1907 and had a long and distinguished record of service there, retiring in 1951. To mountaineers he was best known as an outstanding authority (perhaps the authority) on the mountains of Sinai, and he and his wife (Edith Cairney, a noted member of the L.A.C.) were travellers in the Egyptian deserts of almost legendary fame. During the First War, Murray served in the Sappers in the Palestine campaign, and won the M.C.
For his explorations Murray was awarded in 1936 the Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society and, two years later, elected a member of l'Institut d'Egypte, of which he was a Vice-President from 1945-47· He was elected to the Alpine Club in 1925 on an alpine qualification that opened in 1923 in the Valais with a number of standard routes on the bigger peaks, as also in 1924. In 1925 he paid a visit to the Dolomites before going to the Valais again (Saas, Zermatt and Arolla) and in later years, in the intervals between climbing seasons in Egypt and Sinai, he returned regularly to his old alpine haunts; in 1928 he and his wife were busy in the Mont Blanc range and in the Oberland, where they made the first complete ascent by the South ridge of the Lauterbrunnen Breithorn.
In Sinai he had started climbing as early as 1912 and his last ascent was in 1951; the great years in these regions were between 1921 and 1935. He contributed a number of articles to the A.J. (see the consolidated index for vols. 39- 58) and to the G.J., and other learned societies, to say nothing of his official reports. In 1935 he produced a book, Sons of Ishmael, dealing with the Bedouin peoples, of whom he had a remarkable knowledge.
On his retirement he settled in Aberdeenshire, and soon had a long list of climbs to his credit in Scotland, plus a few in the Lake District.
MR. R. C. Wakefield writes:
The most striking thing about 'Joe' was his delightful sense of impish humour. Were he bogged down in soft sand in the Egyptian desert or caught in a snowstorm on the top of the Cuillins, he would always come out with some humorous remark before getting down to exploit his incredible knack of having a common-sense solution to every difficulty. This, of course, made him an excellent surveyor and his fortyfour years with the Survey of Egypt played a big part in building up the renown in which Egypt was held in the Survey world.
This feeling for the humorous twist in any situation was, I am sure, the secret of his success with the Egyptians. They will try all sorts of wiles but really only respect those who catch them out, and Joe was always a step ahead in this game. Being of an exceedingly generous nature also helped. One friend said of him, 'he had a most un-Scotch regard for money: he just threw it about in a careless manner'.
Above all Joe was a good friend to those who were lucky enough to know him or to those who came to him for help. He took immense pains in passing on to newcomers to the profession all his acquired knowledge of the tricks of the trade.
Mountains and dogs were his passion, so that it was not surprising that when he retired and came to live near Aberdeen his holidays were spent among hills, together with his wife and their enormous Airedale. A special set of boots was made to protect the dog' s pads from the hard Cuillin gabbro and it was a splendid sight to see Joe and his dog setting forth for the heights. The dog was as big as Joe and twice as strong and had to be leashed on account of sheep. We were sometimes anxious as to what might happen on a jagged peak if they disagreed. But they never did.
The spirit which carried Joe so successfully through the discomforts of desert and mountain life was perhaps summed up when he celebrated his eightieth birthday by climbing Lochnagar (3, 786 ft.) and dealt with a half bottle of champagne on the summit. And in the evening those twinkling blue eyes would no doubt be adding sparkle to the stories which he so loved to tell and which kept his audience in fits of laughter.
To his widow, the constant sharer of his adventures both abroad and at home, the Club's sympathy is extended at a loss that will be very fully felt by all those who knew her husband.
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 71, 1966, Seite 348-349


Geboren am:
09.09.1885
Gestorben am:
31.12.1966