Editing Gilbert Murray (section)

== In public life ==

=== Liberal Party politics ===
He was a lifelong supporter of the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]], lining up on the [[Irish Home Rule]]<ref>{{harvnb|Wilson|1987|p=20}}: Murray founded an Oxford Home Rule League in 1886</ref> and non-imperialist sides of the splits in the party of the late nineteenth century. He supported [[Temperance movement|temperance]],{{sfn|Wilson|1987|p=21}} and married into a prominent Liberal, aristocratic and temperance family, the Carlisles. He made a number of moves that might have taken him into parliamentary politics, initially by tentative thoughts about standing in elections during the 1890s. In 1901-2 he was in close contact with the [[Independent Labour Party]].{{sfn|Wilson|1987|p=75}} But the overall effect of the [[Second Boer War]] was to drive him back into the academic career he had put on hold in 1898, resigning his Glasgow chair (effective from April 1899).

He stood five times unsuccessfully for the [[Oxford University (UK Parliament constituency)|University of Oxford constituency]] between 1919 and 1929. He continued support for the [[H. H. Asquith|Asquith]] faction of Liberals, after the party was split again by [[David Lloyd George|Lloyd George]].<ref>{{harvnb|Wilson|1987|p=467}} for details and his academic elections against Lloyd George and Bonar Law, which were equally unsuccessful.</ref><ref>In 1921 Murray was trying a scheme on Asquith to promote a new progressive grouping under [[Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon|Edward Grey]] {{harv|West|1984|p=184}}; but this proved impractical king making.</ref><ref>[[Noel Annan]], in ''Our Age: The Generation that made Post-War Britain'' (1990) provides (p. 236) a list of Liberal Party intellectuals of the 1920s capable of attracting the younger generation; Murray is listed there with [[Maynard Keynes]], [[Hubert Henderson]], [[Walter Layton]], [[Ramsay Muir]], [[Ernest Simon, 1st Baron Simon of Wythenshawe|Ernest Simon]], [[Roy Harrod]]. Another list including Murray (p. 32) is with [[J. A. Hobson]], [[L. T. Hobhouse]], [[J. L. Hammond]] and his wife [[Barbara Hammond]] (both close friends of Murray), [[Graham Wallas]], [[H. W. Nevinson]] and [[H. W. Massingham]], as 'the newly educated classes of the left' and 'reformers'.</ref> During the 1930s the Liberals as a party were crushed electorally, but [[Liberalism in the United Kingdom|Liberal thinkers]] continued to write; Murray was one of the signatory ''Next Five Years Group'' formed around [[Clifford Allen, 1st Baron Allen of Hurtwood|Clifford Allen]].<ref>"... after Lloyd George had become the Independent Liberal in 1931, many remaining Liberals participated in the Next Five Years group, who proposed an aggressive industrial policy and management of banking and finance similar to the [[Liberal Yellow Book|Yellow Book]]. It is true that the group called themselves non-partisan, and in fact one of the core members was [[Harold Macmillan]]. However, as Freeden indicates, the Liberal tendency of the group was obvious as a whole. [[Geoffrey Crowther, Baron Crowther|Geoffrey Crowther]] and [[Arthur Salter, 1st Baron Salter|Salter]], both Liberals, were responsible for the first section of the book dealing with domestic affairs. The signatories included Layton, Rowntree, Cadbury, [[Isaac Foot]], [[H. A. L. Fisher]], Gilbert Murray, J. L. Hammond, and Hobson, other than several Liberal MPs." From [http://www.edu.gunma-u.ac.jp/~kiyo/2005/human/106.pdf paper by Tomoari Matsunaga, PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221161300/http://www.edu.gunma-u.ac.jp/~kiyo/2005/human/106.pdf |date=21 February 2007 }}.</ref>

=== Activist ===
[[File:League of Nations Commission 075.tif|thumb|upright=1.4|[[International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation]] of the [[League of Nations]] in 1939, chaired by Murray (at the central table)]]
As Regius Professor and literary figure, he had a platform to promote his views, which were many-sided but [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]]-liberal.<ref>"Robert L. Fowler, who has read and reflected on a huge amount of Murray's work, places him in context: a Liberal concerned with social organization, a League of Nations supporter, a vegetarian offended by the slaughter of the [[Gadarene swine]], decent and generous, deeply influenced by the historicism of [[Wilamowitz-Moellendorff]]. Murray wrote ''Five Stages of Greek Religion'' in part to 'counteract Jane Harrison's exaltation of the chthonic spirits by a vigorous defence of the Olympian deities', who for Murray characterized the Greek mind during the period of 'true Hellenism' ending with the end of the Peloponnesian War. Murray's gods were morally, intellectually, and politically good, opposing the 'megalomania and blood-lust' of earlier Greek religion and favoring the city-state." – from {{cite journal|author=Daniel P. Tompkins|url=http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1992/03.01.03.html|url-status=dead|title=William M. Calder III (ed.), The Cambridge Ritualists Reconsidered. Illinois Classical Studies|type=review|journal=Bryn Mawr Classical Review|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010501214846/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1992/03.01.03.html|archive-date=1 May 2001}}. Wiliamowitz and Murray had been in touch as correspondents since the mid-1890s {{harv|Wilson1987|p=55}}.</ref> In 1912 he wrote an introduction to ''The Great Analysis: A Plea for a Rational World-Order'', by his friend William Archer.<ref>It proposed ''the founding of an International College of Systematic Sociology. Composed of scholars and politicians from all nations, the College would monitor and interpret global affairs, its university anticipating the crises to be solved by its parliamentarians''. Archer solicited the introduction from Murray for this utopian scheme, and then had it published anonymously as far as identifying himself as author. [[Andrew Carnegie]] was approached for funding, without result. (Peter Whitebrook (1993) ''William Archer: A Biography''. p. 307.)</ref>

During [[World War I]] he became a pamphleteer, putting a reasoned war case. He also defended [[C. K. Ogden]] against criticism,<ref>{{harvnb|Wilson1987|p=236}}; this was in March 1917</ref> and took a public interest in [[conscientious objection]].<ref>In the case of the Quaker [[Stephen Hobhouse]], Murray wrote an introduction to a pamphlet ''I appeal unto Caesar: the case of the conscientious objector'' by his mother Margaret. His father, [[Henry Hobhouse (East Somerset MP)|Henry Hobhouse]], was a Liberal MP from 1885 to 1906, and although a 'country squire' (''Concise Dictionary of National Biography'') was a Privy Councillor; and brother to [[L. T. Hobhouse]], an old friend of Murray's. Murray was incensed at the treatment meted out to Stephen Hobhouse, who had been rejected as not a genuine objector of conscience ([http://www.theosophical.ca/TheSoulAs.htm ''The Soul as It is and How to Deal with It'', 1918 paper] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070103235320/http://www.theosophical.ca/TheSoulAs.htm |date=3 January 2007 }}), and further wrote an introduction to Hobhouse's post-war book on prisons.</ref><ref>He intervened directly in the case of [[Raymond Postgate]] {{harv|Wilson|1987|p=237}}. In a scare about the possible application of [[martial law]] to objectors, he contacted [[Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby|Lord Derby]], the Secretary of War, and [[H. H. Asquith]] the Prime Minister face-to-face {{harv|Wilson|1987|p=239}}.</ref> Murray never took a pacifist line himself, broke an old friendship with [[Bertrand Russell]] early in the war,<ref>Murray was active in helping Russell when the latter was imprisoned; see {{harvnb|West|1984|p=145}} on pacifism, {{harvnb|Wilson|1987|p=241}} on aid to Russell. Murray, close to [[H. H. Asquith]], had no time for [[David Lloyd George]] who displaced him as prime minister.</ref> and supported British intervention in the [[Suez Crisis]].<ref name="eayrs1964">{{cite book | title=The Commonwealth and Suez: A Documentary Survey | publisher=Oxford University Press |last=Eayrs|first=James|author-link=James Eayrs| year=1964 | pages=202–203 }}</ref>

He was also involved as an internationalist in the [[League of Nations]]. He was a vice-president of the [[League of Nations Society]] from 1916,<ref name="Wilson247">{{harvnb|Wilson|1987|p=247}}</ref> and in 1917 wrote influential articles in ''[[The Daily News (UK)|The Daily News]]''.{{sfn|Wilson|1987|p=248}} At the invitation of [[Jan Smuts]] he acted in 1921/2 as a League delegate for South Africa.{{sfn|Wilson|1987|p=249}}<ref>Murray's League activities extended to post-WWI intellectual revival, where he spoke up for funding for Germany (then not a League member); see [[E. M. Forster]]'s life of Murray's deputy [[Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson]].</ref> He was an influential member of the [[International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation]] of the League from 1922 to 1939,<ref>{{cite book |last=Grandjean |first=Martin |date=2018 |title=Les réseaux de la coopération intellectuelle. La Société des Nations comme actrice des échanges scientifiques et culturels dans l'entre-deux-guerres |trans-title=The Networks of Intellectual Cooperation. The League of Nations as an Actor of the Scientific and Cultural Exchanges in the Inter-War Period |url=https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01853903/document |language=fr |location=Lausanne |publisher=Université de Lausanne}}</ref> being its president from 1928 to 1939.

Later he was a major influence in the setting-up of [[Oxfam]]<ref>Oxfam was not initially known by that name at that point, post-WWII. "A leading figure in this campaign was Professor Gilbert Murray (1866–1957). ... He was a founder of the League of Nations Union, a citizen support group for international peace. As famine in Greece became severe in the autumn of 1941 the League of Nations Union appointed a 'Committee on Starvation in Occupied Countries'. In October 1941 Murray and [[Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood|Lord Robert Cecil]], Viscount Chelwood (1864–1958), joint presidents, sought a meeting with the Ministry of Economic Warfare to establish whether anything more could be done to relieve starvation in occupied countries. ... Murray remained in Oxford after his retirement and was closely associated with the development of Oxfam as a founder and trustee. After the war he was joint president, 1945–1947 and 1949–1957, and sole president, 1947–1949, of the United Nations Association." [https://www.oxfam.org.ni/about_us/history/oxfamorigins.rtf "About Us – History"], Oxfam {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040717230631/http://www.oxfam.org.ni/about_us/history/oxfamorigins.rtf |date=17 July 2004 }}</ref><ref>A Gilbert Murray Memorial Lecture for Oxfam has been given from 1959, endowed after his death. Speakers have included: [[Graça Machel]] (2005); [[Amartya Sen]] (2002); [[Gordon Brown]] (2000); Juan Sonavía (1996); [[Philippa Foot]] (1992); [[Desmond Tutu]] (1990); [[Crispin Tickell]] (1989); [[Smangaliso Mkhatshwa]] (1985); [[Prince Sadruddin]] (1983); [[David Owen]] (1978); [[August Lindt]] (1959); and by [[John Kenneth Galbraith]], [[Conor Cruise O'Brien]].</ref> and of the Students' International Union (later the [[Institute of World Affairs]]).

=== Involvement with Wells ===
For a brief period Murray became closely involved with the novelist [[H. G. Wells]]. Initially this was in 1917 and connection with groups supporting a future League: Wells promoted a ''League of Free Nations Association'' (LFNA), an idea not in fact exclusive to him, since it had been 'up in the air' since [[Woodrow Wilson]] had started considering post-war settlements. Wells applied through the British propaganda office with which Murray had been connected since 1914. The two men corresponded from 1917 about League matters.<ref>[[A. B. McKillop]], ''The Spinster and the Prophet'' (2000) p. 143</ref> Wells was bullish about pushing ahead with a British LFNA, Murray was involved already in the League of Nations Society (LNS), though not active.<ref name="Wilson247" /> The political position was delicate, as Murray understood and Wells may not have: the LNS overlapped with the [[Union of Democratic Control]], which was too far towards the pacifist end of the spectrum of opinion to be effective in that time and context. Eventually in 1918 the LFNA was set up around Welsh Liberal MP [[David Davies, 1st Baron Davies|David Davies]], and then shortly the LFNA and LNS merged as the [[League of Nations Union]].<ref>"[The FNLA] members were mostly good haters of Germany and people of importance and influence ... The idea of a League was becoming reputable chiefly owing to President Wilson ... The 'Society' [LNS] sent its chairman [[W. H. Dickinson]], G.L.D., J. A. Hobson and [[L. S. Woolf]]. The 'Association' [LFNA] sent [[C. A. McCurdy]], Gilbert Murray, [[Wickham Steed]], H. G. Wells. The dinner was a success ..." E. M. Forster, ''Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson'', p. 169.</ref>

Two years later, Wells called on Murray, and Murray's New College colleague [[Ernest Barker]], to lend their names as advisers on his ''[[The Outline of History]]''. Their names duly appeared on the title page.<ref>The other advisers were [[E. Ray Lankester]], [[Harry Johnston]].</ref> Murray had to give evidence in the [[plagiarism]] case ''Deeks'' v. ''Wells'' that arose in 1925.<ref>McKillop, ''The Spinster and the Prophet'' covers this all thoroughly</ref>

=== Psychical research ===

Murray held a deep interest in [[Parapsychology|psychical research]].<ref>Lowe, N. (2007). ''Gilbert Murray and Psychic Research''. In ''Gilbert Murray Reassessed: Hellenism, Theatre, and International Politics'', edited by Christopher Stray. Oxford University Press. pp. 349–370. {{ISBN|978-0-19-920879-1}}</ref><ref>Carruthers, William. (2015). ''Histories of Egyptology: Interdisciplinary Measures''. Routledge. p. 108. {{ISBN|978-0-415-84369-0}}</ref> Between 1916 and 1924, he conducted 236 experiments into [[telepathy]] and reported 36% as successful, although it was suggested that the results could be explained by [[hyperaesthesia]] as he could hear what was being said by the sender.<ref>Payne, Kenneth Wilcox. (1928). ''Is Telepathy all Bunk?'' ''[[Popular Science Monthly]]''. p. 119</ref><ref>Couttie, Bob. (1988). ''Forbidden Knowledge: The Paranormal Paradox''. Lutterworth Press. p. 129. {{ISBN|978-0-7188-2686-4}} "In the early 1900s Gilbert Murray, who died in 1957, carried out some experiments in ESP in which he was in one room and the sender in a hallway, often with an open door between them. These experiments were successful. Most of the time the target was spoken aloud. When it was not, there were negative results. This is suggestive of a hyperacuity of hearing, especially since on at least one occasion Murray complained about noise coming from a milk-cart in the street next to the one in which the experiments were being carried out."</ref><ref>Mauskopf, Seymour H; McVaugh, Michael Rogers. (1980). ''The Elusive Science: Origins of Experimental Psychical Research''. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 331. {{ISBN|978-0-8018-2331-2}}</ref><ref>Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren H. (1989). ''Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking''. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. p. 155. {{ISBN|978-0-805-80507-9}}</ref><ref>Anderson, Rodger. (2006). ''Psychics, Sensitives and Somnambules: A Biographical Dictionary with Bibliographies''. McFarland. p. 126. {{ISBN|0-7864-2770-1}}</ref>

Murray was the President of the [[Society for Psychical Research]] in 1915–1916 and 1952.{{sfn|Wilson|1987|p=280}}