MURRAY, HERMAN STEPHEN (1892-1963)

MURRAY, HERMAN STEPHEN, teacher, lawyer, military officer, businessman, and MLA; mayor of Chatham, 1934; b. Murray Road, Botsford parish, Westmorland Co., N.B., 4 Feb 1892, s/o William Blair Murray and Rebecca Frances Peacock; m. 1918, Vera Alice Murray, d/o Robert Murray and Jane Simpson; d. Chatham, 9 Jan 1963.

Herman S. Murray was a graduate of the Provincial Normal School who was on the staff of the Chatham Grammar School for a short period before the outbreak of World War I. At that time he was a lieutenant in the 73rd Battalion of militia, and he later served overseas with the 26th Battalion. He saw action at Somme, and was wounded at Vimy Ridge. He returned to Canada in the fall of 1917 and was a captain on the district headquarters staff in Saint John from 1918 to 1920. He studied law in this period and was granted a degree by King's College, Windsor (BCL 1921). He returned to Chatham and entered practice with his father-in-law, Robert Murray, while continuing to play a leading part in the militia. In 1925 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and appointed to succeed Lieut. Col. Cuthbert St John Donald as commanding officer of the North Shore Regiment. He relinquished command to Lieut. Col. Arthur L. Barry in 1929.

Murray was appointed registrar of probate for the county in 1922, as successor to Michael S. Benson. He was later a director of several business corporations, including A. & R. Loggie Ltd. For some years he was president of the Commercial Press Ltd, the publisher of The Commercial-World. He was active in civic affairs, serving as a county councillor, school trustee, town councillor, and mayor of Chatham for a one-year term. During World War II he was a director of the Air Observer School at the Chatham airfield. In 1944 he ran successfully as a Liberal candidate in the provincial election, and he was re-elected in 1948 and 1952. When he was defeated in 1956 he retired from politics.

Murray was superintendent of St Andrew's United Church Sunday school from 1926 to1933 and served for a time on the board of regents of Mount Allison University. He was a director of the Chatham branch of the Victorian Order of Nurses. In 1953 he was president of the Highland Society. In 1962, he was made a Freeman of the town of Chatham. He and his wife, Vera A. Murray, had no children.