Professor
Alexander Falconer MURISON, MA, LLD. (1847, Aberdeen-1934,London)
ALEXANDER
FALCONER MURISON
Birth:
03 MAR 1847 in Wellhowe Cottage, New Deer, Aberdeen, Scotland
Father: ALEXANDER MURISON
Mother: ELSPET MURISON
Extracted birth
record for the locality listed.
**************************************
ALEXANDER
FALCONER MURISON’s father,
Alexander Snr., was born in 1816 in New Deer. He was a Wright to trade, and
a son of John Murison and Barbra Falconer, both also born in New Deer; John
in 1773, and Barbra in 1785, who married in New Deer on the 30th
December, 1813.
ALEXANDER
FALCONER MURISON’s mother
Elspet, (also a Murison), was born in January, 1825 in Rathven, Aberdeen to
William Murison and Elizabeth Catto, and she married Alexander Murison Snr.
on the 7th
of December,1845 in New Deer, Aberdeen, Scotland.
Alexander
Murison Snr. and Elspet had 5 children in New Deer, Alexander Falconer in
1847, William in 1848, Barbra in 1850, John Falconer in 1852, and George in
1854.
ALEXANDER
FALCONER MURISON was educated, initially at a
Grammar School in Aberdeen where he boarded with Mr Alexander Thomson (Shop
Porter) and Mrs Margaret Thomson in Maywell Street, Old Machar, and
thereafter at the University of Aberdeen where he achieved an MA and a LLD.
ALEXANDER
FALCONER MURISON married
Elizabeth Logan on the 18th
of June, 1870 in Old Machar, Aberdeen, Scotland; Elizabeth having been born
in New Deer in 1847. They had two children, Alexander Logan Murison 1871,
and James William Murison in 1872, both at Old Machar.
The 1871 Census
reveals the following information about ALEXANDER’s occupation then,
1871 Scotland
Census
Name:
Alexander F Murison Age:
24 Estimated birth year: abt.
1847 Relationship:
Head
Spouse's name : Elizabeth
Gender: Male Where born: New
Deer, Aberdeenshire
Registration Number: 168/2
Registration district: Old Machar
Civil parish: Old Machar
County: Aberdeenshire
Address: Balmoral Terrace No 12
Occupation: M A Schoolmaster of English Classes
Household Members and Relationships
Alexander F Murison 24 - Head
Elizabeth Murison 24 - Wife
Mary Ann Logan 19 Sister-in-law
John F Murison 18 Brother
George Murison 16 Brother
***********************
Alexander
was actually an English Master at The Aberdeen
Grammar school from 1869 to 1877.
By 1881 he had
moved to England and become
Barrister-at-law, Middle Temple, London in 1881.
Very quickly, in 1883, he was appointed Professor of Roman Law at University
College London, a position which he held until retirement in 1925 along with
the professorship of Jurisprudence from 1901 until 1925.
This 1891 Census
extract image provides a snapshot of the Murison family’s whereabouts in
London.
In
addition, Alexander
was Deputy Professor of Roman-Dutch Law from 1914 until 1924, Dean of the
Faculty of Laws, 1912-1924, both at University College London, and also Dean
of the Faculty of Laws, 1914-1918, at the University of London. He was
Deputy Regius Professor of Civil Law and Deputy Reader in Roman Law at
Oxford University from 1915 to 1919. From 1916 to 1917 he was President of
the Society of Public Teachers of Law. He was Senator of the University of
London from 1921 to 1924.
He spent some
years on the political and literary staff of the 'Daily Chronicle' of India,
and in 1896 he stood in an election for the Lord Rectorship of Aberdeen
University but lost marginally. He was editor of the 'Educational Times',
1902-1912. He was also an examiner for several universities.
He also
published many books during his life, mostly on Roman Law, but also some on
Scottish history, two of which we make available for reading here v.i.z.
‘Sir William Wallace’ and ‘King Robert The Bruce’.
He died on 8
June 1934 as recorded here in the official index record …
England & Wales,
Death Index:
Name:
Alexander F Murison Death
Date:08 June 1934 Death
Registration June of 1934 Age
at death 87 years Registration
district: Wandsworth County:
Greater London Volume: 1d
Page: 485
1900
PREFACE
'THE
ignorance of some otherwise well-informed persons respecting the claims of
Wallace as a national patriot,' wrote Dr. Charles Rogers, 'is deplorable.'
The
documentary authorities are, indeed, fragmentary, and exceptionally
perplexing. Some are clearly trustworthy; many are conflicting,
dissimulatory, falsified, false, biassed in all degrees, and full of
inference and hearsay set forth in the guise of indubitable fact. The
researches of English historians—even when they happen to be Scotsmen--have
not yet rendered further investigation superfluous.
The fact
is, that a large critical undertaking must form the basis of any adequate
account of Wallace. In a brief narrative the writer must resign himself to
the simple if somewhat perilous course of telling his story as it has shaped
itself in his mind during perusal of the available authorities, with but
occasional and slight indications of the shaping process.
The noble
poem of Blind Harry, thanks largely to the ingenium perfervidum of the
minstrel himself, has been much—we may say wholly—discredited as history.
Harry has been very cavalierly dealt with, however; it is more by a grin
than otherwise that he has been vanquished. Stevenson's tentative protest is
here emphasised. For the present sketch, however, Harry is used rather by
way of illustration than as a source of facts. He is cited without any claim
to credence, except on grounds definitely specified. But such reservation is
provisional, and conditioned by such rational criticism as may one day yet
be applied. The citations in the text have been conservatively modernised.
All students of Harry's poem owe their most grateful acknowledgments to Dr.
James Moir and the Scottish Text Society.
One is
reluctant to believe that there are no more references to Wallace still
lying dormant in the muniment rooms of Scottish families. One is no less
reluctant to suppose that any patriotic Scot would leave a solitary corner
of his muniments unsearched for every possible glint of light upon the great
man that has stood forth for six centuries, and will in all probability
stand forth for ever, as incomparably the most heroic and most fateful
figure in the history of Scotland—a Hero and a Patriot second to none in the
recorded history of the nations.
CONTENTS
PREFACE
THE present volume on King Robert the Bruce is the
historical complement to the former volume on Sir William Wallace. Together
they outline, from the standpoint of the leading spirits, the prolonged and
successful struggle of the Scots against the unprovoked aggression of Edward
I. and Edward II.—the most memorable episode in the history of Scotland.
As in the story of Wallace, so in the story of Bruce, the
narrative is based on the primary authorities. Happily State records and
official papers supply much trustworthy material, which, furnishes also an
invaluable test of the accuracy of the numerous and wayward race of
chroniclers. Barbour's poem, with all its errors of fact and deflections of
judgment, is eminently useful—in spite of the indulgence of historical
criticism.
There is no space here to set forth the long list of
sources, or to attempt a formal estimate of their comparative value. Some of
them appear incidentally in the text, though only where it seems absolutely
necessary to name them. The expert knows them; the general reader will not
miss them. Nor is there room for more than occasional argument on
controverted points; it has very frequently been necessary to signify
disapproval by mere silence. The writer, declining the guidance of modern
historians, has formed his own conclusions on an independent study of the
available materials.
After due reduction of the exaggerated pedestal of
Patriotism reared for Bruce by the indiscriminating, if not time-serving,
eulogies of Barbour and Fordun, and maintained for some five centuries, the
figure of the Hero still remains colossal: he completed the national
deliverance.
CONTENTS
-
Chapter I The Ancestry of Bruce
-
Chapter II Opportunist Vacillation
-
Chapter III The Coronation of Bruce
-
Chapter IV Defeat and Disaster: Methven and Kildrummy
-
Chapter V The King in Exile
-
Chapter VI The Turn of the Tide
-
Chapter VII Reconquest of Territory
-
Chapter VIII Recovery of Fortresses
-
Chapter IX The Battle of Bannockburn
-
Chapter X Invasion of England and Ireland
-
Chapter XI Conciliation and Conflict
-
Chapter XII Peace at the Sword's Point
-
Chapter XIII The Heart of the Bruce
You
can download this book in pdf format here!
The Globe Readers
These are very interesting books as they were compiled by
Alexander Murison when he was the Master of English at The Grammar School in
Aberdeen. These are actual books studied by the pupils in school and contain
lots of interesting information. Their intention was to not only teach the
English language but also to educate on a whole series of topics through
stories and poetry. There are thus many charming stories to be read in these
readers and we certainly recommend a wee read of these which are in pdf
format.
Reader 1 |
Reader 2 |
Reader 3 |
Reader 4 |
Reader 5
To make these book easier to dip into we
have made these available by book, by topic and you can read them on the
Globe Readers Page.
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