Death Notice: James Harvey Murray

I am having a genealogy long weekend and as I had been making new discoveries about my husbands paternal family line I decided to chase up to see if there was anything new in the Singapore Newspaper Archives (see here) that would give me any new information about this branch of his family. I wasn’t disappointed as new newspapers have been added that provided me with the death notice for James Harvey Murray, who is my husbands paternal Great Grandfather. We now have more questions than ever of course (as is the nature of genealogy) but it is another vital piece of the puzzle and a very interesting find. Why his death was advertised in this paper and by whom we do not know. Deaths at this time in Singapore were not a rare occurrence, so why was his the only one listed? Was the fact that his wife was Eurasian with a Japanese mother influential? The request for Java papers to copy this makes sense in that his wife Helen Murray nee Stillfried Rathenitz, daughters Dorothy (Dolly) Murray and Mary Clare (Molly) Murray and grandson Alan Martin were in the Dutch East Indies as civilian prisoners of war during this time we believe. We have passenger records of them going to England from Java at the conclusion of the war and reuniting with my husbands grandmother Violet Martin nee Murray and father Ronald Martin, who had escaped from Singapore and were living in Barrow in Furness. What did he die from? Where was he buried? Where was he living between the Fall of Singapore and his death, as I haven’t found him on the Changi civilian nominal rolls? Hopefully one day I will find out the answers!

DOMESTIC OCCURRENCE

DEATH

MURRAY.- James Harvey Murray passed away peacefully at the former Tan Tock Seng’s Hospital on March 26, 2603. Funeral took place on 27-3-2603. Djawa papers please copy.

Source: NewspaperSG, Page 2 Advertisements Column 2, Syonan Shimbun, 29 March 1943, Page 2. Retrieved from http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/syonantimes19430329-1.2.30.2

The Syonan Shimbun was a Japanese propaganda newspaper printed during the Occupation of Singapore, World War Two. The year 2603 is not an error it was the Japanese Imperial year. More posts mentioning James Harvey Murray can be found here, here, and here.

James Harvey Murray b. 3 June 1876 d. 26 March 1943?

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