# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Murray, Matthew

​MURRAY, MATTHEW (1765–1826), engineer, born in 1765 near Newcastle-on-Tyne, was apprenticed to a blacksmith, and on the expiration of his indentures found work, about 1789, at Marshall's, the great flax spinners, at Leeds. He introduced the use of 'sponge weights' for damping the front rollers of flax-spinning machines, which ultimately led to the important innovation of wet spinning, flax having previously been spun dry. In 1790 he took out a patent (No. 1752) for spinning and drawing-frames, and in 1793 another patent (No. 1971) for preparing and spinning flax, hemp, tow, wool, and silk, in ​which a carding engine is described. In the specification of these patents he describes himself as a ' whitesmith ' and as a ' whitesmith and mechanic.' He was awarded a gold medal by the Society of Arts in 1809 for a machine for heckling flax (Trans. Soc. Arts, xxvii. 148).
He quitted Marshall's service in 1795, and started in business at Leeds, in partnership with James Fenton and David Wood, who found the necessary capital. The style of the firm was Fenton, Murray, & Wood, and subsequently Fenton, Murray, & Jackson. Their place of business was known as the Round Foundry, now in the occupation of Messrs. Smith, Beacock, & Tannett. In addition to the manufacture of flax machinery, Murray turned his attention to the steam-engine, and the firm became a formidable rival to Boulton & Watt, who went the length of surreptitiously purchasing the adjacent land, to prevent the extension of the foundry (Smiles, Industrial Biography, p. 262). He was one of the first to study the external form of the steam-engine, endeavouring to improve the general design of the machine, as well as to secure compactness of arrangement, solidity, and accessibility of parts. Views of Murray's engines may be found in Stuart's 'Anecdotes of Steam Engines' (ii. 441-4) ; Farey's 'Steam Engine' (pp.682, 688, 691) ; Nicholson's 'Journal of Science' (1805, ix. 93). He took out patents for improvements in various details of the steam-engine in 1799 (No. 2327), 1801 (No. 2531), and 1802 (No. 2632). The patent of 1801 was set aside by scire facias, at the instance of Boulton & Watt, on the ground that certain portions of it infringed their rights (Repertory of Arts, 1803, 2nd ser. iii. 235). Murray is generally credited with the invention of the 'short D-slide valve ' for controlling the supply of steam to the cylinder, and an approach to that form may be seen in his patent of 1802. It is described by Farey (p. 692) as forming part of one of Murray's engines built in 1 810. As a proof of the soundness of Murray's work it may be mentioned that one of his engines, put up at Water Hall Mills, Leeds, about 1813, is still in good condition, and was regularly running until 1885.
In 1812 Murray was employed by Blenkinsop to build locomotives to run on his rack railway from Middleton collieries to Leeds, a distance of about three miles and a half. The ' Salamanca ' and the ' Prince Regent ' were put upon the road in 1812, and the ' Lord Wellington ' and ' Marquis Wellington ' in the following year. This was the first instance of the regular employment of locomotives for commercial purposes, and the engines ran for at least twenty years (Wood, Railroads, 1831, 2nd ed. p. 128). They were fitted with two double-acting cylinders, no fly-wheel being required. This was an important improvement. Murray was also a builder of boat engines, and the ' Leeds Mercury ' of 24 June 1813 states that a steamboat to ply between Yarmouth and Norwich was then being fitted up in the canal basin at Leeds. This boat ran regularly until April 1817, when the boiler exploded, and several persons were killed (see Society of Arts Journal, 30 March 1877, p. 446, 7 Sept. 1877, p. 943). He is one of the numerous claimants to the invention of the planing-machine, which seems to have been in use in his shop in 1814.
Murray died at Holbeck, Leeds, 20 Feb. 1826, and was buried in Holbeck churchyard.
[Smiles's Industrial Biography, pp. 260-4 ; Meysey-Thompson in Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1882, p. 266; information communicated by Murray's grandson, Mr. George March of Leeds.]
R. B. P.