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K.C. Murray
OBE
K.C. Murray OBE
Born	Kenneth Crosswaithe Murray; 1 Aug 1902 ; Staffordshire, England
Died	21 April 1972; Benin, Nigeria
Nationality	British
Education	Balliol College, Oxford; School of Arts and Crafts, Birmingham;
Occupation(s)	Teacher, Curator
Father	H. J. R. Murray
Relatives	James Murray (paternal grandfather); Elisabeth Murray (sister);

Kenneth Crosswaithe Murray (1902 – 21 April 1972) better known as K.C. Murray was an English art curator and teacher.

The second son of the chess historian H. J. R. Murray and his suffragette wife Kate Crosthwaite, Murray was an elder brother of educationalist and biographer Elisabeth Murray, and a grandson of Sir James Murray, editor of the Oxford English Dictionary.^[2]

He first studied at Balliol College, Oxford but later left in order to study art at the School of Arts and Crafts, Birmingham.^{[citation needed]}

Arriving in Lagos, Nigeria on 14 December 1927. He undertook book illustrations in Oyo, Oyo (south west Nigeria) and inspections of the Arts and Crafts Schools in Kano and Katsina before returning to Lagos in January 1928 to teach arts at Kings College, Queen's College, and the Government School.^[3]

Murray took a leave in 1929 to study pottery under Britain’s preeminent studio potter, Bernard Leach. He returned to Nigeria to teach arts at Government Training College Umuahia until 1931 when he moved to Government Training College Ibadan.^{[citation needed]}

Prompted by the discovery of Nok Head artefacts during tin mining^{[citation needed]} , on 28 July 1943, Murray became Nigeria's first surveyor of antiquities in the newly created Nigeria Antiquities Service (which became the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments in 1979). During his tenure as the director of the Department of Antiquities of the colonial administration he founded the Nigerian Museum in Lagos in 1957. He was succeeded as Director by Bernard Fagg. He retired to his house in Takwa Bay Lagos, but was later recalled temporarily in 1963 to his former position until a Nigeria could take over.^[4]^[5]

Having spent the majority of his adult life in Nigeria, remained in Nigeria even after retirement and was dedicated to preserving Nigerian arts.^[6] KC Murray died in a road accident along Ijebu Benin road on 21 April 1972.^[7] His body was interred in Ikoyi Cemetery on 4 May 1972.

References

^ "Phyllis Rowlands - Kenneth Crosthwaite Murray".
^ Brewer, Charlotte. "Katherine Maud Elisabeth Murray (1909-98)". Examining the OED. Hertford College, Oxford: Charlotte Brewer. Archived from the original on 22 November 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
^ Ozioma Onuzulike, The Emergence of Modern Ceramics in Nigeria: The Kenneth Murray Decade, 1929–39, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272137450_The_Emergence_of_Modern_Ceramics_in_Nigeria_The_Kenneth_Murray_Decade_1929-39
^ "Celebrating Nigeria's 90 years of Museum movement". Vanguard News. 15 August 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
^ National Commission for Museums and Monuments, History Of Museum in Nigeria https://museum.ng/about-us/history-of-ncmm/ Retrieved 15 July 2022.
^ Murray and growth of museums in nigeria https://thenationonlineng.net/murray-and-growth-of-museums-in-nigeria/
^ "Betty Murray, Kenneth Murray...and Aina Onabolu!". Zaynnah Magazine. Retrieved 15 July 2020.

Sources

Willett, Frank (Winter 1973). "Kenneth Murray". African Arts. 6 (2): 65. doi:10.2307/3334793. JSTOR 3334783.
Onuzulike, Ozioma (November 2013). "The Emergence of Modern Ceramics in Nigeria: The Kenneth Murray Decade, 1929–39". The Journal of Modern Craft. 6 (3): 293–313. doi:10.2752/174967813X13806265666735.