Hunstanworth Graveyard
In St. James Churchyard, Hunstanworth, County Durham, is a family headstone which reads;
In
Memory Of
JOHN OLIVER
of Ramshaw
Who Died Nov 24th 1873
Aged 66 Years
HANNAH
Wife Of The Above
Died Sep 8th 1880
Aged 67 Years
Also WILLIAM MURRAY
Their Adopted Son Who Died Feb
18th 1894 Aged 47 Years
Also ELIZABETH
Wife Of The Above Died May
14th 1916 Aged 64 Years
Pte W MURRAY
Grandson Of The Above
KILLED IN ACTION
Sep 15th 1916
Aged 23 Years
HANNAH O. MURRAY
Died Jan ?? 1928
Pauline Priano has submitted the following:-
William Murray was the illegitimate child of Mary Jane Murray, the eldest of 3 daughters and an older son, offspring of William Murray, born August 14th 1846 in the mining village of Ramshaw near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, and Elizabeth Ridley of Frosterley, Weardale, born 1852.
William’s grandparents were married, May 20th 1871 at Hunstanworth, County Durham, their son John Oliver Murray was born in 1872, his mother Mary Jane 1873, Hannah Oliver 1875, baptised April18th and Margaret Elizabeth in 1876. William Murray was a farmer of 11 acres at No1 Ramshaw in the parish of Hunstanworth, Mary Jane by the age of 18 (1891) was an apprentice dressmaker and gave birth to William in 1893. Her father died, February 18th 1894, aged 47-years and was interred in the family grave of John and Hannah Oliver, St James Churchyard, Hunstanworth. John Oliver and his wife had adopted William after the death of his own parents, Joseph Murray in 1882 and his mother Mary Curry in 1898, when he was just 4-years of age. In recognition of this William had named two of his children in their honour also using the middle name of Oliver.
Widow Elizabeth Murray continued to run their cattle farm at Ramshaw, Mary Jane, now a qualified dressmaker had a business of her own which she ran from home, William (7) although of school age is not listed as such. Stone mason, Jonathan Oliver Murray (29) had married in 1900 to Annie Temperley, they were living with her uncle, Joseph Temperley, a gardener/domestic, at Cottage No1, Newbiggin Hall, Northumberland, Margaret Elizabeth (24) was employed as a servant in the home of William Murray, a blacksmith for his own account in the village of Blanchland, whom she married in 1901, Hannah (26) was also a servant in the home of farmer William Brown and his brother Peter. By 1911 Elizabeth (59) had abandoned farming, Hannah (36) had returned to live with her mother, both were supported by William (17) a woodman’s apprentice and had taken in lodger, Thomas Maughan (28), a wood sawyer at the joinery works. William’s mother Mary Jane had left him in the care of his grandmother having married widower, engineering works blacksmith, Alfred Ward in the district of Weardale in 1905, who had a daughter Eleanor Gertrude from his first marriage and with whom, by 1911, she had had 3 children, however 2 only had survived, sons John Alfred (5) born in Hunstanworth and Oliver Hewitt Ward (3) in Middlesbrough, where they were living in 4 rooms at 10, Wentworth Street.
After the declaration of war, August 4th 1914 all regiments formed new battalion to answer the call to arms. William was amongst the first to enlist at Hexham, assigned as Private 2773 to the 4th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, a Territorial Force, Northumberland Brigade, Northumbrian Division, posted to the Tyne defences. The Territorials were split into two lines during November 1914, the 1st Line for men willing to serve overseas, the 2nd Line for those unable or unwilling to serve overseas. The 1/4th Battalion N.F. departed to France where it became part of the 149th Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Division, April 20th 1915 and making its way to Belgium, without any nursery training or trench familiarisation was sent into the front line during the 2nd Battle of Ypres, April 22nd-May 25th 1915. The Germans had attacked using poison gas in the run up to the Battle of St. Julien, April 24th-May 5th, during which the 149th Brigade including the 1/4th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, was part of the British counterattack. In the absence of official documents, it is uncertain exactly when William departed to the front, however I think it is fair to say he was with the second wave of men who departed as of January 1916 as did Private 2774 John Brown also of Blanchland. He would have joined his regiment in the field, at the time the 1/4th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers were near Armentieres and Kemmel in and out of the front line trenches subjected to shellfire and gas attacks, until moving south to participate in the final stages of the Battles of the Somme in late 1916 at Flers-Courselette, September 15th-22nd.
Private 2773 William Murray was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, his body buried by his comrades, marked by a cross bearing his military details. After the Armistice of November 11th 1918, Adanac Military Cemetery, Miraumont, was formed around grave IV. B. 30, which was left in its original position, when graves were exhumed and brought in from the Canadian battlefields around Flers-Courcelette and small British cemeteries and burials in the Pys and Le Sars sector and two British burials from Shrine Cemetery near Grevillers as well as soldiers of the Commonwealth, Canadian and New Zealanders. Private 2773 William Murray Northumberland Fusiliers was laid to rest within Adanac Military Cemetery, Miraumont, France, grave VI. K. 13, work completed, November 22nd 1920. At the time of his demise in 1916 Private Murray was 23 years of age and single.
His grandmother Elizabeth Murray nee Ridley had died prior to her grandson, May 14th 1916, aged 64-years and interred with her husband at St. James Churchyard. All monies due to Private Murray from the Army, his awards of the British War Medal and Victory Medal and also a pension went to his spinster aunt, Hannah Oliver Murray of The Square Blanchland, her pension reviewed every two years and received until her demise, January 1928.
William’s mother Mary Jane Ward and retired blacksmith Alfred Ward, in 1939 were living at 1, Dorman’s Cottages, Redcar, Yorkshire. Mary Jane Ward nee Murray (87) died in 1960, registered in the district of Cleveland, Yorkshire North Riding.
In God’s Safe Keeping. Rest In Peace.
William Murray is remembered at Blanchland on B40.01
