This is the story of 57 Marywoood Square, formerly known as 26 Moray Place, and – briefly – as 57 Princes Square. The residence is the end building of the fourth Moray Place terrace, but its porch opens onto Marywood Square. Unusually, it was designed by Francis Armstrong, an architect from Dumfrieshire who had little involvement in Glasgow, but who purchased the land for development in 1876. He retained ownership of 28 Moray Place upon completion.
View of 57 Marywood Square/26 Moray Place from Moray Place, with the rest of the terrace beyond.
William Fullarton Murray
William Fullarton Murray was the third William in succession in the Murray family, and the first occupant of 26 Moray Place.
The elder William Murray was a stationer in Paisley. His son, who styled himself William Murray Jnr, was born in Paisley in 1806. He married Agnes Fullarton and had eleven children, of whom William Fullarton Murray was the eldest son.
He was born in Glasgow in 1837, and married Elizabeth Rodger in 1869. She was a widow, with a daughter Agnes, and they had a further son William in 1871. Around 1878, on completion of the new terrace, the family moved into No 26 Moray Place with the two children.
In 1885 Elizabeth died at home, aged 52, and the following year, aged 49, William married again, to Jane Laidlaw. Jane was a neighbour, the daughter of school teacher John Laidlaw of 1 Princes Square (now 4 Marywood Square), the marriage taking place in her home. Despite his late start, he had four more children with Jane, three born in Moray Place, and the fourth after he had retired to a farm in Kilwinning c.1898, born in 1901.
The Murrays were potters, but not just any potters.
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