Gustavus Murray

Gustavus Charles Philip Murray (1831 – 7 August 1887) was a British obstetrician who may have been the inspiration for Luke Fildes' 1891 painting The Doctor. His work in the examination of pregnant women was recognised by Adolphe Pinard in 1889 but ignored in England. He was popular with his patients and had a thriving practice with many professional appointments but as a result wrote little. He died at the age of 56 years from heart failure.

Early life and family Gustavus (sometimes Gustavo) Murray was born at Port of Spain, Trinidad, West Indies, in 1831, the youngest son of Edward Murray (c.1800–1874), registrar of slaves and later Marshal of Trinidad. Murray received his schooling mainly at private schools in England. His health was poor and he was twice forced to return to Trinidad for that reason. daughter of John Yearsley of The Moors, Cheltenham. In 1871 the family were in the same area but had no servants according to the census return. By 1881 they were living in Great Cumberland Place, Marylebone, and employed four servants. Their second son, Stormont Murray, became a physician who practiced in London. Subsequently, he received his M.D. from the University of Edinburgh in 1860 His work was recognised by Adolphe Pinard, an eminent obstetrician and pioneer of listening to the fetal heartbeat, in Pinard's 1889 book on abdominal palpation in pregnancy, but his innovations in the examination of pregnant women were ignored in England.

At the start of his career he had consulting rooms at his home at 17 Green Street, Mayfair, a fashionable location for doctors.

He was a fellow of the Edinburgh Obstetrical Society Towards the end of his career he was to become president of the London society but was unable to take up the position due to ill health. Murray's professional demeanor may have been the inspiration for the attentive and concerned physician in Luke Fildes's painting The Doctor (1891) after he attended the artist's first child, Philip, when he became ill and died at Christmas 1877. Murray and Fildes were well known to each other, and Murray had delivered all the Fildes children. The artist's son, also Luke Fildes, wrote in his biography of his father: He left an estate of £4,132.