Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/409

 tical shape' (, History of the Post Office, p. 36). The earliest instance of a stamped penny letter is dated 9 Dec. 1681. Two years later he assigned his interest in this to William Docwra [q. v.], merchant, of London, but in 1690 it was adjudged to pertain to the Duke of York as a branch of the general post office (cf., Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 726). He is questionably identified by Wood with the Robert Murray who was 'afterwards clerk to the general commissioners for the revenue of Ireland, and clerk to the commissioners of the grand excise of England.' In August 1697 he had been active in the 'malt and other' proposals in parliament, and was then in custody in a sponging house near St. Clement's Church. In 1703 he offered to the Lord High Treasurer 'a scheme for tin,' and asked for the royal bounty. Some time before July 1720 he succeeded George Murray as 'comptroller and paymaster of the standing orders of the lottery of 1714,' and in this capacity had transactions with the South Sea Company. By the act 10 & 11 Will. III c. 17 lotteries had been prohibited, but from 1709 onwards the government resorted to them as a means of raising money. In 1714 exchequer bill shad been issued to the amount of 1,400,000l, but lottery prizes were offered in addition to interest in the shape of terminable or perpetual annuities. In 1721, after a memorial from Murray, the South Sea Company proposed to discharge the unsubscribed orders into their own capital stock (for Murray's part in this transaction see Treasury Papers, vol. ccxxxiii. passim).

Murray was superseded as paymaster of this lottery in 1724, and in February 1726 is spoken of as the 'late Robert Murray, Esq.' His will is not in the prerogative court.

He published: 1. 'A Proposal for the Advancement of Trade, &c.,' London, 1676 (a proposal for the establishment of a combined bank and Lombard or mont de piété for the issue of credit against 'dead stock' deposited at 6 per cent. interest). 2. 'Composition Credit, or a Bank of Credit made Current by Common Consent in London more Useful than Money,' London, 1682. 3. 'An Account of the Constitution and Security of the General Bank of Credit,' London, 1683. 4. 'A Proposal for the more easy advancing to the Crown any fixed Sum of Money to carry on the War against France,' &c. (a noticeable proposal to establish negotiable bills of credit upon security of some branch of the royal revenue; Murray's credit bank proposals presage the greater scheme of Law, but it does not show the remarkable grasp of theory which characterises Law). 5. 'A Proposal for the better securing our Wool against Exportation by working up and manufacturing such' (a proposal to revive the law of the staple, and to establish a royal company of staplers). 6. 'A Proposal for translating the Duty of Excise from Malt Drinks to Mast, whereby may be advanced to the Crown 15 Millions for the War against France.' 7. 'An Advertisement for the more Easy and Speedy Collecting of Debts.' The last four publications are without place or date.

 MURRAY, the. SARAH (1744–1811), topographical writer. [See .] MURRAY, TERENCE AUBREY (1810–1873), Australian politician, son of Captain Terence Murray of the 48th foot, by Ellen, daughter of James Fitzgerald of Movida, co. Limerick, was born at Limerick in 1810, and educated in Dublin. In 1827 he went to New South Wales with his father, and spent four years on his father's sheep station at Lake George. In 1833 he was gazetted a magistrate, and in connection with the mounted police helped to repress bushranging. From 1843 to 1856 he represented Murray, King, and Georgiana in the legislature of New South Wales, and after a fully responsible government was granted to the colony in 1856, Murray sat in the legislative assembly for Argyle from that date until 1862, when he was appointed a member of the legislative council or upper house. From 26 Aug. 1856 to 2 Oct. 1856 he was secretary for lands and works in the Cowper ministry, also acting as auditor-general from 26 Aug. to 16 Sept.; he was again secretary for lands and public works in the second Cowper ministry from 7 Sept. 1857 to 12 Jan. 1858. On 31 Jan. 1860 he was elected speaker of the legislative assembly, and on 14 Oct. 1862 president of the legislative council, an office which he held till 22 June 1873. He was knighted by letters patent on 4 May 1869. He died at Sydney on 22 June 1873.

He married, first, in 1843, Mary, second daughter of Colonel Gibbes, the collector of customs at Sydney (she died in 1857); and, secondly, Agnes, third daughter of John