# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Murray, Henry Leigh

​MURRAY, HENRY LEIGH (1820–1870), actor, whose name was originally Wilson, was born in Sloane Street, London, 19 Oct. 1820. While clerk in a merchant's office he joined some amateurs in a small theatre in Catherine Street, Strand, making his first appearance about 1838 as Buckingham in 'King Richard III.' Cassio, Macduff, Faulconbridge, Iago, &c., followed, and on 2 Dec. 1839, under Hooper, manager of the York circuit, he made at Hull his debut as an actor, playing Ludovico in 'Othello.' On 17 Sept. 1840, as Leigh, perhaps to avoid confusion with his manager, he appeared at the Adelphi Theatre, Edinburgh, under William Henry Murray [q. v.], as Lieutenant Morton in the 'Middy Ashore.' While occasionally visiting Dundee, Perth, and other towns, he remained in Edinburgh, at the Theatre Royal or the Adelphi, till the spring of 1845, marrying in 1841 Miss Elizabeth Lee, a member of the company. Among the characters he played were Dr. Caius, Jan Dousterswyvel in the 'Lost Ship,' Hotspur, and Mark Antony, in which character he took his farewell of the Edinburgh stage. His salary in Edinburgh in 1842 was 1l. 10s. weekly, his wife receiving 2l. 15s. Murray's first appearance in London took place at the Princess's under Maddox on 19 April 1845, as Sir Thomas Clifford in the 'Hunchback,' with Lester Wallack, by whom he had been brought from Edinburgh, as the Hunchback, Miss Cushman being the Julia, Mr. Walter Lacy Lord Tinsel, Mr. Compton Modus, and Mrs. Stirling Helen. He played Bassanio, Orlando, Leonardo Gonzaga, &c., and was the original Herman Lindorf in Kenney's 'Infatuation,' and Malcolm Young in White's ' King of the Commons.' He was also Icilius to Macready's Virginius and De Mauprat to his Richelieu. With Macready he went, in the autumn of 1846, to the Surrey, where he played secondary characters in Shakespeare and Loveless in the 'Relapse.' On the recommendation of Dickens he was chosen to play at the Lyceum Alfred Heathfield in Albert Smith's adaptation of the ' Battle of Life.' At the Lyceum he remained under the Keeley and the Mathews managements. His Marquis de Volange in the 'Pride of the Market' won special recognition. In Dublin in 1848 he supported Miss Faucit (Lady Martin), playing Romeo, Jaffier, Biron, Leonatus, Beverley, Claude Melnotte, Charles Surface, &c. Quitting the Lyceum for the Olympic he became stage-manager under Stocqueler, and afterwards under Spicer and Davidson. Here he played character parts in pieces then in vogue, such as 'Time tries all,' 'His First Champagne,' &c. In the representations given during 1848 and 1849 at Windsor Castle he played Lorenzo in the 'Merchant of Venice,' Laertes, Octavius in 'Julius Caesar,' and Gustavus in 'Charles XII.' Accompanying William Farren [q. v.], whose stage-manager he became, to the Strand and back to the Olympic, he played at the former house Joseph Surface, Falkland, Harry Dornton, Mr. Oakly, &c. His original characters at this time included Herbert Clavering in 'Patronage,' Fouché in ' Secret Service,' Captain Wagstaff in 'Hearts are Trumps,' Count Tristan in 'King Rene's Daughter,' the Comte de Saxe in an adaptation of 'Adrienne Lecouvreur,' Stephen Plum in 'All that glitters is not Gold,' and many others. He supported Gustavus Vaughan Brooke [q. v.] as Iago and Wellborn in 'A New Way to pay Old Debts.' Murray accompanied B. Webster [q. v.] to the Adelphi, where on 1 April 1853 he played in Mark Lemon's farce 'Mr. Webster at the Adelphi,' and made, 10 Oct. 1853, a high mark in Webster's 'Discarded Son,' the first of many adaptations of 'Un Fils de Famille.' On 20 March 1854 he was Sir Gervase Rokewode in 'Two Loves and a Life,' by Tom Taylor and Charles Reade, and on 31 May was first Raphael Duchatelet in the 'Marble Heart,' Selby's adaptation of 'Les Filles de Marbre.' In September he quitted the Adelphi, and in the next year was at Sadler's Wells. On 4 Nov. 1856 he reappeared at the Adelphi as Sir Walter Raeburn in the 'Border Marriage' ('Un Mariage à l'Arquebuse'). On 8 March 1858 he was, at Drury Lane, the first M. Bernard in Stirling Coyne's 'Love Knot.' As John Mildmay in 'Still Waters run deep' he reappeared at the Lyceum on 7 Aug. 1859, and played subsequently M. Tourbillon in 'Parents and Guardians,' and Claude Melnotte. On 9 Nov. he enacted at the St. James's the original ​Harrington in James Kenney's 'London Pride, or Living for Appearances.' A benefit was given him at Drury Lane on 27 June 1865, with a view of aiding him in a trip to the south, rendered necessary by failing health. Representations were given by various London actors, the share of Leigh Murray and his wife consisting in the delivery of a duologue written by Shirley Brooks. Murray died 17 Jan. 1870 and was buried in Brompton cemetery.
He played a large range of characters, and was in his time unequalled as Maurice de Saxe, Harry Dornton, Gustave de Grignon in the 'Ladies' Battle,' Captain Darner in the 'Camp at Chobham,' Sir Charles Pomander in 'Masks and Faces,' and Birchall in the 'Vicar of Wakefield.' He also approached excellence as Captain Absolute and Charles Surface. A painstaking and competent actor, but wanting in robustness, he owed his reputation in part to the naturalness and ease of his style, to his avoidance of artifice and convention, and to the absence of mannerism. He was a member of the Garrick Club, and his popularity there, with its attendant temptations, did something to sap his health.
Mrs. Elizabeth Leigh Murray (d. 1892), the second daughter of Henry Lee (1765–1836) [q. v.], dramatist and manager for fifty years of the Taunton circuit, appeared at the age of five in 'Little Pickle,' and played a round of characters in her father's theatres, and in York, Leeds, Hull, &c. She appeared in London at the Olympic under Mme. Vestris, playing Cupid in an extravaganza of that name, and accompanied her manager to Covent Garden, taking part in the opening performance of 'Love's Labour's Lost,' 30 Sept. 1839. She then went to Sadler's Wells, and, after playing in various country towns, reached Edinburgh,where she appeared, under the name of Miss E. Lee, as Lady Staunton in the 'Whistler of the Glen, or the Fate of the Lily of St. Leonards,' an adaptation of the 'Heart of Midlothian,' and in 1841 as Mrs. Leigh. Returning to London, she reappeared at the Lyceum as The Lady in 'A Perplexing Predicament.' As a singer, and in drawing-room or domestic comedy, she won high reputation. Among numerous original parts, in many of which she supported her husband, she was seen as Apollo in Frank Talfourd's 'Diogenes and his Lantern,' Strand, 7 Feb. 1850; Mme. Duchatelet in the 'Marble Heart;' Lady Lavender in Stirling Coyne's 'Love Knot,' Drury Lane, 8 March 1858; Mrs. Burr in the 'Porter's Knot,' Olympic 2 Dec. 1858; Patty in the 'Chimney Corner,' Olympic, 21 Feb. 1861; Mrs. Kinpeck in Robertson's 'Play,' Prince of Wales's, 15 Feb. 1868; Lady Lundie in Wilkie Collins's 'Man and Wife,' Prince of Wales's, 22 Feb. 1873; Mrs. Crumbley in Burnand's ' Proof Positive,' Opera Comique, 16 Oct. 1875; Mrs. Foley in ' Forget me not,' Lyceum, 21 Aug. 1879; Mrs. McTartan in Byron's 'Courtship,' Court, 16 Oct. 1879; Lady Tompkins in Burnand's 'Colonel,' Prince of Wales's, 2 Feb. 1881. She also played in her later years Mrs. Candour and many similar parts. She died 25 May 1892.
Murray's younger brother, Gaston Murray (1826-1889), born in 1826, whose real name was Garstin Parker Wilson, first appeared in London at the Lyceum on 2 March 1855 as Tom Saville in 'Used up,' played in various theatres, and essayed some of his brother's parts. He died 8 Aug. 1889. His wife, Mary Frances (d. 1891), known as Mrs. Gaston Murray, daughter of Henry Hughes, of the Adelphi Theatre, was a capable actress and played intelligently many parts at the Globe, the Court, and St. James's, including Mrs. Penguin in the 'Scrap of Paper.' Her Mrs. Primrose in the 'Vicar of Wakefield' at the Lyceum was excellent. On 24 May 1889, at the opening of the Garrick Theatre by Mr. Hare, she was the original Mrs. Stonehay in Mr. Pinero's 'Profligate.' She died on 15 Jan. 1891.
[Personal knowledge and private information; Tallis's Dramatic Magazine; Theatrical Times, vols. i. and iii.; Scott and Howard's Life and Reminiscences of E. L. Blanchard; Westland Marston's Our Recent Actors; Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft's On and Off the Stage; Dickens's Life of Charles J. Mathews; Pascoe's Dramatic List; Era Almanack, various years; Sunday Times, various years; Era newspaper, 23 Jan. 1870.]
J. K.