Murray, (George) Gilbert (Aime)(1866-1957)

Born on January 2, 1866, Murray was a Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford University who was a leader in the psychical research community in early twentieth-century England. He believed he had the capacity for thought-transference and declared in an interview for the Sunday Express in the summer of 1929, that he discovered his thought-reading faculty by accident while playing guessing games with his children. At the insistence of his wife, Murray commenced experimenting with grown-ups.

Ultimately he became a famous figure in psychical research for his experiments in thought-transference with investigator Eleanor Sidgwick, the results of which were published in the 1924 Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research. Sidgwick considered these findings "perhaps the most important ever brought to the notice of the society."

Murray was president of the Society for Psychical Research, London, 1915-16. He did not believe in communication with the dead, but he had reached an agreement with psychologist William James that there exists a "stream of consciousness, with a vivid centre and dim edges." In moments of inattentiveness, subconscious impressions register themselves and afterward form a sort of dim memory, which may account for certain phases of clairvoyance. Murray suspected that around our perceptions is a fringe of still more delicate sensing apparatus. The "feelers" of this apparatus are constantly registering contacts with their surroundings, but the impressions are too weak to enter the field of normal consciousness. This fringe of consciousness is the key to telepathy.

In addition, Murray published a number of books concerned with Greek traditions in literature and poetry. He died at Oxford, England, May 20, 1957.

Sources:

Essays in Honor of Gilbert Murray. Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1972.

Murray, Gilbert. Gilbert Murray: An Unfinished Autobiography. London: Allen and Unwin, 1960.

Sidgwick, Eleanor. "Report on Further Experiments in Thought-Transference Carried Out by Professor Gilbert Murray, LL.D, Litt.D." Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 34 (1924).