Murray was the son of Thomas Graham Murray WS LLD (1816-1891) and Caroline Jane Tod, daughter of John Tod.[1] His father and grandfather were solicitors, and founding partners of the Edinburgh firm Tods Murray & Jamieson.[2] He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge.[3]
During his tenure as a Law Lord he gave long majority judgments in cases including Metropolitan Water Board v Dick Kerr & Co Ltd[10] concerning frustration and Tredegar v. Harwood[11] concerning a landlord's liability to insure premises, Ellerman Lines Ltd v Murray[12] on employment law and excessive reliance on a preamble or draft international instrument, Sorrel v Smith[13] concerning the tort of conspiracy to interfere with a trade or calling, Leyland Shipping Co Ltd v Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society Ltd[14] on causation in tort, Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage & Motor Co Ltd[15] on penalty clauses and Plumb v Cobden Flour Mills Co Ltd[16] on employer's liability. In 1923 he was chairman of the Political Honours Review Committee. He retired as a Law Lord in 1932.[1]
Lord Dunedin was twice married. He married firstly Mary Clementina, daughter of Admiral Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet, in 1874. They had one son and two daughters. After Mary's death in December 1922 he married secondly Jean Elmslie Henderson Findlay, secretary of the Scottish War Savings Committee in WW1, and daughter of George Findlay, in 1923. They had no children. His only son the Hon. Ronald Thomas Graham Murray (1875–1934) was a major in the Black Watch and fought in the First World War. However, he died married but childless in September 1934, aged 59, predeceasing his father by eight years. Lord Dunedin died in August 1942, aged 92. As he had no surviving male issue both his titles became extinct on his death.[1]