Rosemary Murray

Dame Alice Rosemary Murray, (28 July 1913 – 7 October 2004) was an English chemist and educator. She was instrumental in establishing New Hall, Cambridge, now Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, and was the first woman to hold the office of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.

Background Information Rosemary Murray was born in Havant, Hampshire, the oldest of six children born to Admiral Arthur John Layard Murray, a scion of the Murray Publishing Family, and Ellen Maxwell Spooner, herself the daughter of William Archibald Spooner, Warden of New College, Oxford. After attending Downe House, Newbury, she studied as an undergraduate chemist and doctoral student at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She completed a BA degree in 1936, and received a DPhil degree in 1938

Teaching career Rosemary Murray went on to hold teaching positions at the Royal Holloway College, the University of Sheffield and Cambridge.

A 2013 BBC report describes a secret major control bunker, later buried beneath the lawns of Magee College, Derry, Northern Ireland. From 1941 this bunker, part of Base One Europe, together with similar bunkers in Derby House, Liverpool, and Whitehall was used to control one million Allied personnel and fight the Nazi U-boat threat. Murray was stationed at Base One Europe as WRNS Chief Officer and responsible for the welfare of 5,600 Wrens stationed at Londonderry.

New Hall, Cambridge

In 1946, the mistress of Girton College invited Murray to apply for a job at Cambridge.

In 2008, it was announced that New Hall would be renamed Murray Edwards College, in honour of the vision of its first President, Rosemary Murray, and the generosity of the Edwards family.

Town and gown Murray was a magistrate in Cambridge for 30 years from 1953, and was the first female deputy lieutenant of Cambridgeshire in 1982. She was president of the National Association of Adult Education from 1977 to 1980. She was a member of the Committee on Higher Education in Northern Ireland chaired by Sir John Lockwood (1963–65), which recommended the closure of Magee College as well as the location of Northern Ireland's 2nd University being Coleraine (February, 1965) and led to the controversial creation of the New University of Ulster, from which she was later awarded a Doctor of Science (DSc) honorary degree (1972). She was a member of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body (1971–81). She was a director of Midland Bank Ltd (1978–84), and an independent director of The Observer (1981–93). Doctor of Science (DSc), The New University of Ulster, 1972 Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Leeds, 1975 Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1975 Doctor of Civil Law (DCL), University of Oxford, 1976 Doctor of Law (DL), University of Southern California, 1976 Doctor of Science (DSc), Wellesley College, 1976 Doctor of Laws (LLD), University of Sheffield, 1977 Doctor of Science(DSc), The Royal Australian Institute of Colleges, 1981 Doctor of Law (DL), University of Cambridge, 1988 In 2004, a new rose was named in her honour at the Chelsea Flower Show. In 2008, New Hall, Cambridge was renamed Murray Edwards College, in her honour.

Death She died at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford on 7 October 2004, aged 91, following a heart operation.