Flora Murray (botanist)

Flora Buchan Murray (1 August 1896 – 1968) was a New Zealand botanist, and was the second woman appointed as permanent staff at Canterbury University College.

Flora Murray
Born
Flora Buchan Murray

(1896-08-01)1 August 1896
Died1968 (age 72)
Edinburgh
Resting placeGrange Cemetery, Edinburgh
Scientific career
Fieldsbotany
InstitutionsRangi Ruru Girls' School, Canterbury University College, Edinburgh University, Sunderland College
Thesis

Early life and education

Murray was born in New Zealand on 1 August 1896 to parents the Reverend Charles and Grace Jane Murray.[1][2] She grew up in Carterton, near Wellington, and was educated at Christchurch Girls' High School.[3] She enrolled at Canterbury University College in 1915, and was the winner of the prize in zoology for 1916–1917.[4] Murray graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1920, and followed this with an MA with first class Honours in Botany in 1921.[3] Her dissertation was on indigenous plants in the Port Hills.[3]

Academic career

Murray taught at Rangi Ruru Girls' School but was then appointed as an assistant lecturer in the Department of Biology at the Canterbury University College in 1922, under head Charles Chilton. She was the second woman to be appointed to the staff, and worked alongside the first, Elizabeth Herriott.[3][4] Murray also worked as a research assistant in forestry.[4]

In May 1929 Murray was awarded the Sir William Hartley Scholarship for three years' overseas study.[5] She was awarded a doctorate in 1932 by the University of Edinburgh, for a dissertation entitled Studies in the development of the sexual tissues in the genus rhododendron.[6][7] She appears to have worked both at the University of Edinburgh and at Sunderland College in the UK.[3][7]

Later life

Murray died in Edinburgh in 1968, and is buried in Grange cemetery with her sister Grace Bryce Murray. Her memorial mentions her PhD.[8]

Legacy

In 2017, Murray was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Aparangi's 150 women in 150 words.[3]

Selected work
  • Flora Murray (1932), Studies in the development of the sexual tissues in the genus rhododendron, Wikidata Q105003335

References
  1. "ATL: Unpublished Collections". tiaki.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  2. Birth certificate 1896/4970 available from Department of Internal Affairs.
  3. "Flora Murray". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  4. Mary Creese (2010), Ladies in the Laboratory III: South African, Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian women in science : nineteenth and early twentieth centuries ; a survey of their contributions, OCLC 699866310, Wikidata Q104657105
  5. "Degree Day". The Press. 11 May 1929. p. 19. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  6. Murray, Flora Buchan (1932). "Studies in the development of the sexual tissues in the genus rhododendron". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. A. D. Thomson (2000). "Some pioneer women graduates in botany from Canterbury University College". Canterbury Botanical Society Journal. 34: 54–63. Wikidata Q104857139.
  8. "Flora Buchan Murray 1896 – 1968 BillionGraves Record". BillionGraves. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
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