MURRAY, WILLIAM ARCHIBALD (1832-1900) was born in Berwick, Scotland, of a family which had occupied sheep farms on lease since 1660. He came to Otago with his parents in the Agra (1858), and farmed for some years at Mount Stuart. During the early days of the gold diggings he made considerable profits by selling meat to the miners. In 1871 Murray won the Bruce seat (Murray 122, Cutten 87, Dyer 71, Black 31); and he represented it in Parliament till 1881. He was a strong conservative in politics, and endeavoured in 1880 to enlist the cooperation of Ormond in organizing a conservative party. He was a member of the commission on manufactures and industries. Having moved to the North Island and commenced farming at Piako in 1874, Murray was defeated at the general election 1881 by J. Rutherford (q.v.). He later took up a large part of the Opuatia block, which he called Glen Murray. In 1891 he contested the Waikato seat against Lake. Murray was unmarried and died at Auckland on 26 Jun 1900.

N.Z.P.D., 1871-81; Bruce Herald, 8 Oct 1881; N.Z. Herald, 17 Jul 1885, 13 Jan 1888, 27 Jun 1900. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 2, page 58

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