Lindley Murray (1745 – 16 February 1826) was an American Quaker lawyer, writer, and grammarian, best known for his English-language grammar books used in schools in England and the United States.

Murray practised law in New York. As the colonies began to fight for independence with the American Revolution (1765–1783) and in the lead-up to the Revolutionary War, Murray sat on the Committee of Sixty and the Committee of One Hundred to manage events in the Province of New York. Some Quakers did not want him to be associated with a public committee. Still, he sat on the committee to protect his family's shipping interests, which would be inhibited by the Continental Association's nonimportation clause. Murray spent the first half of the Revolutionary War in Islip, Long Island, living leisurely. With British troops in control of Manhattan, Murray returned to the island and joined his father in the import-export and shipping businesses that made him rich during the second half of the war.

In 1783, Murray retired, and one year later, he left America for England. Settling at Holgate, near York, he devoted the rest of his life to literary pursuits. His first book was Power of Religion on the Mind (1787). In 1795, he issued his Grammar of the English Language. This was followed by English Exercises, and the English Reader. These books passed through several editions, and the Grammar was the standard textbook for fifty years throughout England and America. This appears to be a self-published genealogical book.

His year of birth is uniformly 1745.|name="dob"<!--- date of birth---> in Harper Tavern, John married Catharine Bowne.

As he was growing up, Murray saw and met with people from around the world and heard the latest news of those who visited his parents. He received an education founded on values of the Age of Enlightenment. When six years old, he was sent to a Quaker school in Philadelphia,

Law career

In 1761, Murray studied law under Samuel Kissam, his father's attorney and John Jay's teacher. Murray passed the bar in 1765 and established his law practice in the Province of New York in 1767. the daughter of Thomas Dobson. They had no children.

Built in 1850, the one-room Lindley Murray schoolhouse of East Hanover Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, was named for Murray.

Murray's will established a testamentary trust with purposes including the education of Black persons and Native Americans, distribution of Christian books, and relief of the poor. The trust is now managed by the New York Yearly Meeting and still supports its original goals.

Notes

References

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Bibliography

Further reading

  • Murray's English Reader various formats available at the Internet Archive
  • The Lindley Murray Papers held at Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College