Alexander Murray. 81 
marble quarries in Italy, but she and her husband lived 
most of the time in London, where she died in 1882. 
Murray was educated at the Royal Naval College, Ports- 
mouth, entered the navy in 1824 as midshipman, passed for 
lieutenant in 1833, and retired in 1834. Although he did 
not remain long in the service, the atmosphere of a man-of- 
war of those days clung to him throughout life. He was 
fond of nautical terms and illustrations and the strong 
language of naval officers of the olden time. On account , 
of these peculiarities, when he removed to the seafaring 
colony of Newfoundland he was christened Captain Murray 
by the people, and among them was always known by this 
honorary title. 
During his career as a naval officer he had an oppor- 
tunity of seeing some active service, and was present in 
the ‘‘Philomel” at Navarino on the 20th of October, 1827, 
where he was wounded, and received a medal for the part 
he took in that engagement. At the time of the rebellion 
of 1837-38 in Upper Canada he volunteered his services to 
the government and was on duty for a short period. 
The salary attached to the position of assistant provincial 
geologist does not appear to have been sufficient to secure 
his services for the entire year, and Murray was allowed to 
devote part of his time to agriculture. He purchased land 
in the township of Blandford, not far from Woodstock, one 
of the best districts in the upper province, and continued 
to hold his farm all the time he was connected with the 
Geological Survey of Canada. For the first few years he 
kept the management of it in his own hands, his wife 
looking after matters while he was absent on geological 
field-work a part of each summer or at the office of the 
Survey in Montreal a portion of each winter. He found, 
however, that in his case “gentleman farming” would not 
pay, and so he rented this property and took a house in 
Woodstock. Here his wife died in the winter of 1862-3 
while her husband was temporarily residing at the head- 
quarters of the Survey in Montreal. 
