AH Murphy was the son of Dr.Reginald Anthony Murphy and May Priscilla Cooper. They married in Calcutta, India and lived in Assam where Dad was born in 1915. He attended school at Cheltenham and went on for officer training at Sandhurst before being assigned to the Royal Berkshire Regiment out in India. He fought in the Second World War and was the strategic officer at the Battle of Kohima Ridge, the turning point of the Pacific War. After seeing conflict in Palestine, he retired with the rank of Major and went with his wife and growing family to farm in Kenya during the Mau-Mau period. At Independence, the Murphys moved to Apartheid South Africa, and thence to England, Ireland and the Isle of Man where AH died at the age of 69. His grave lies at Maughold Head, near Ramsay.
He left family in South Africa, England and Ireland, but we don't know where our Murphy cousins are.
Grandpa Murphy (Reginald) was the firstborn of Hugh Davis Murphy and Francesca Barbara Burgess, followed by Claude Richard Burgess, Earnest Howard, Gerald Edgar and Florence Sophia. Reginald died and was buried in Kenya in 1951. Claude died and was buried in Belfast in 1947. We are still looking for Gerald's and Earnest's last resting places. GreatAunt Florence is now known to have died in 1980 and to be buried in the Parish of Dunluce.
Evidence from Hugh Davis' Will indicates that his gravesite in Belfast city cemetery was bought by him for his family. It is positoned in the north-west face of a triangular plot below the drinking fountain, consisting of a large black basalt headstone and surrounds. The inscription reads:
In Memory of the Rev. Hugh Davis Murphy D.D. Rector of St George's Church Belfast and Canon of St Patrick's Cathedral Dublin. Born June 8th 1849, died March 7th 1927. Also his wife Francesca Barbara born March 7th 1845, died May 6th 1939.
Two of the surrounding edges have inscriptions:
James Caleb Murphy died 24th June 1931 aged 78 years
In Loving Memory of Claude R.B. Murphy who was called home on the 1st Nov 1947 aged 65 years.
James Caleb Murphy is mentioned in Hugh Davis' Will as his brother and executor, Bank Manager of the Armagh Bank, Belfast. According to AHs anecdotes, a brother emigrated to Pennysylvania to start a tobacco company with two Jewish men.
Murphy family photos
Name:
Ciaraine Murphy
Email:
[email protected]