Murray, William

Glasgow, Scotland; carver, gilder and picture frame maker (fl.1821-60)

William Murray was born in 1796 in Rogart, Sutherland. Details of his apprenticeship are unknown but it would appear that by 1821 he was working as carver and gilder in Glasgow and is recorded by 1834 working for the 10th Duke of Hamilton on interior decoration and furnishing at Hamilton Palace. 

Glasgow Post Office Directories listed Murray as carver and gilder at 9 Guildry Court (1821), 80 Great Clyde Street (1822-23), 43 Stockwell (1824); 98 Queen Street (1825), 49 Queen Street (1826), as carver and print seller at 82 Argyll Street (1827-28); 6 & 24 Queen Street (1829-30), 25 Buchanan Street (1832-36), 19 Buchanan Street (1837-45) and 14 Jamaica Street (1847-48). He was then recorded as carver and gilder to the Queen, 14 St Enoch’s Square (Glasgow Post Office Directories, 1849-54). Census show the widower Murray, merchant carver and gilder employing 12 men, living at 44 West Howard Street, St Enoch's (1851). It is likely that he was the William Murray, carver and gilder recorded as a director of the Glasgow Provident Investment Co.[Glasgow Examiner, 29 January 1853]. 

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Rijksmuseum

Further, recorded as carver and gilder to the Duke of Hamilton, in his position of President of the Glasgow New Militia Society, est. 1802, Murray led the move to suspend the ballot for the militia in Scotland and to dissolve the Society [Paisley Herald and Renfrewshire Advertiser, 23 December 1854]. In 1857 he announced a stock in trade sale at his premises in St Enoch’s Square due to his retirement and departure from the premises in April of that year [Paisley Herald and Renfrewshire Advertiser, 23 May 1857]. 

According to family member, Lloyd Pitcher, William died in 1867; his funeral card describing him as ‘a Citizen of Glasgow for upwards of 45 years’. 

Hamilton Palace Commissions

1. Carved pinewood table with marble top, offered by sale by Neal Auction Co., New Orleans, USA, 4 October 2003. The label reads ‘William Murray / Carver and Gilder to his Grace the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon / 19 Buchanan Street/Glasgow. This table had been offered as lot 666, Christie, Manson & Woods' auction of the contents of The Hamilton Palace in 1882, bought by Christopher Beckett Dennison, London and then at Belcourt Castle, Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It is now in a private collection.  
2. Another giltwood side table, with Murray's label giving with his later address of 14 St Enoch Square, was offered as lot 652 in the 1882 auction. Bought by Mervyn Wingfield, 7th Viscount Powerscourt, Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow and by descent at Powerscourt to Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Slazenger (who purchased Powerscourt and its contents in 1961), sold Christie's house sale, 24-25 September 1984 (lot 488), Christie's, New York, 27 January 1990 (lot 175), with Trinity Fine Art 1997 and sold by Christie's, 6 July 2000 (lot 101). Between 1880 and 2000 the table lost its ebonised plinth and gained the central circular cartouche. For 2000 image click here
3. The long table frame, made by Murray in the 1840s, in order to display the Duke's second largest slab of pietra dura in front of the Rubens' painting of Daniel in the Lions' Den in the Long Gallery. This was unsold at Freeman's, Philadelphia, 17 May 2016, subsequently purchased by the 16th Duke of Hamilton and now at Lennoxlove.        
4. Murray also carried out restoration improvement work to furniture owned by the 10th Duke of Hamilton. The Rijksmuseum acquired at the Cheverney sale of Rouillac, 9 June 2013, a long lost important Japanese export lacquer chest, dated c.1640, related to the V&A's Mazarin chest. It has a carved and gilded foot base which was added later and has a printed label with the text: ‘William Murray Carver & Gilder to his Grace the Duke of Hamilton & Brandon’, with the address 25 Buchanan Street, Glasgow. His trades were recorded on this label as ornamental and plain gilding; drawing materials of all kinds; variety of fancy ornaments; portraits, prints & miniatures framed. The lacquer chest was included in the Hamilton Palace sale, 10 July 1882 (lot 1165), purchased by Sir Trevor Lawrence and sold by Christie’s, 30 May 1916 (lot 262). It was purchased by Sir Clifford Cory of Llantarnam Abbey, Wales. After his death the chest and foot base were sold by Hampton & Sons, 13-16 May 1941 (lot 553), after which its whereabouts are unknown until 2013. The chest is illustrated Impey and Jörg, Japanese Export Lacquer (2005), figs. 139 and 310). Now at Rijksmuseum. Unfortunately the ornate carved legs of the foot base are missing. 

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Rijksmuseum

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Murray had also been involved with carving and gilding during the improvements to Hamilton Palace made in the 1820s-1830s. The Hamilton archive includes a letter regarding Murray's estimate for carving each window cornice at £9 10s and one dated 23 December 1840 about two frames to be executed to match the pier glass frame in the new State Rooms at the Palace. A letter by George Ramsay, the carpenter (?) at Hamilton Palace, to the 10th Duke of Hamilton, dated 22 March 1834, mentions that in the dining room ‘Mr. Murray is just about finished with the carving of Glass frames they are to come forward at top. as directed by your Grace……’. Further ‘Mr Murray says he will have all the gilt bordering for the Library & Billiardroom finished in 14 days’.  An undated letter from William Murray, with the address of 25 Buchanan Street, seeked confirmation of the position of carver and gilder, to the Duke of Hamilton, which the Duke had promised him.   

In 1848 William Murray advertised "PIER AND CHIMNEY GLASSES. WILLIAM MURRAY, CARVER AND GILDER TO HER MAJESTY, The Duke of Hamilton, etc. RESPECTIVELY informs the Public that he has present on hand, at his extensive NEW PREMISES, 14 ST ENOCH SQUARE, GLASGOW, number of Pier and Chimney Glasses at Reduced Prices, which may be had Framed in Carved Wood or Composition Ornament to original and elegant designs in the Renaissance, Italian, and other fashionable styles the Glasses on hand are the following sizes.....From the recent revival in the Art of Wood Carving, and the general encouragement now given to decorative Art, W.M. would solicit a continuance of those favours so long bestowed on him a Practical Carver in Wood, all the Branches connected with Carving and Gilding being carried out in the Premises, under his own Superintendence, with the aid of Workmen from the first London Houses. Works of the best and most tasteful description may be depended on. Pictures Frames, Pier Tables, Window Cornices, Carved, and Compo., PROJECTING LETTERS FOR SIGNS, etc."[Greenock Advertiser, 9 May 1848).

In the early 1850s Murray advertised papier mâché ornaments for use as decorations, or on furniture; "WILLIAM MURRAY, HER MAJESTY'S CARVER AND GILDER, HAS to announce that he has just received a Tasteful Variety of Elegant Papier Mache CEILING and FURNITURE ORNAMENTS, suited for every style of decoration, and admirably adapted for the extensive alterations and improvements of the Season. PAPIER MACHE WAREHOUSE, 14 St. ENOCH SQUARE" [North British Daily Mail, 5 June 1852]. 

Murray is also remembered for several wax and plaster of Paris models of family members, made 1865-67, which are now in Sydney, Australia and the Museum on the Isle of Tiree, Scotland (2015.46.1)

Sources: Pitcher, A Craftsman in Rogart, Glasgow and London: The Life and Times of William Murray, 1796-1867 (pub. online Wordpress 2019); information received from Paul van Duin, retired Head of Furniture Conservation, Rijksmuseum and from Stephen Jackson, National Museums Scotland; Evans, Hamilton Palace: The Dukes of Hamilton and their Collections (2025).