Henry Leigh Murray

Henry Leigh Murray (19 October 1820 – 17 January 1870) was an English actor.

Early life Murray was born in Sloane Street, London, 19 October 1820, with the surname Wilson. While a clerk in a merchant's office he made a start on amateur acting, in a small theatre in Catherine Street, Strand, his first appearance being about 1838 as Buckingham in King Richard III. Other Shakespearean parts followed, and on 2 December 1839, under Hooper, manager of the York circuit, he made his professional debut at Kingston upon Hull, playing Ludovico in Othello. On 17 September 1840, as Leigh (perhaps to avoid confusion with his manager) he appeared at the Adelphi Theatre, Edinburgh, under William Henry Murray, as Lieutenant Morton in The Middy Ashore by William Bayle Bernard. Occasionally visiting other Scottish towns, he remained in Edinburgh, at the Theatre Royal or the Adelphi, till the spring of 1845. Among the characters he played were Dr. Caius, Jan Dousterswyvel in The Lost Ship by William Thompson Townsend, Hotspur, and Mark Antony as his farewell to the Edinburgh stage.

The London stage Murray's first appearance in London took place at the Princess's Theatre under J. M. Maddox on 19 April 1845, as Sir Thomas Clifford in The Hunchback by Sheridan Knowles, with Lester Wallack in the lead, Charlotte Cushman as Julia and Walter Lacy playing Lord Tinsel. He played Bassanio, Orlando, and Leonardo Gonzaga, and was the original Herman Lindorf in James Kenney's Infatuation, and Malcolm Young in James White's King of the Commons. He was also Icilius to William Charles Macready's Virginius, in the Virgilius of Knowles, and De Mauprat to his Richelieu, in the Richelieu of Bulwer Lytton. Leaving the Lyceum for the Olympic Theatre, he became stage-manager under Joachim Hayward Stocqueler, and then under Spicer and Davidson. There he played character parts in pieces then in vogue, such as Time Tries All (John Courtney), and His First Champagne (William Leman Rede). In the theatricals given during 1848 and 1849 at Windsor Castle he played Lorenzo in the Merchant of Venice, Laertes, Octavius in Julius Caesar, and Gustavus in Charles XII (James Robinson Planché). Murray accompanied William Farren, whose stage-manager he became, to the Strand Theatre, and back to the Olympic. He supported Gustavus Vaughan Brooke as Iago, and Wellborn in A New Way to pay Old Debts.

Murray married in 1841 Elizabeth Lee, a member of the Edinburgh company, and the second daughter of Henry Lee; she later appeared as Mrs. Elizabeth Leigh Murray, and died in 1892.

Murray's younger brother, Gaston Murray (1826–1889), real name Garstin Parker Wilson, first appeared in London at the Lyceum on 2 March 1855 as Tom Saville in Used Up, played in various theatres, and tried some of his brother's parts. He died 8 August 1889. His wife, Mary Frances, known as Mrs. Gaston Murray, daughter of Henry Hughes, of the Adelphi Theatre, also acted. On 24 May 1889, at the opening of the Garrick Theatre, she was the original Mrs. Stonehay in Arthur Pinero's The Profligate. She died on 15 January 1891.