John Murray. 1826-1882. Die Eerste Stellenbossie Professor

Prof. John Murray (1826 1882 ) was a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church and one of the first two professors of the Stellenbosch Seminary .

Murray was the eldest of the five sons of Rev. Andrew Murray Sr., all of whom became ministers. The other four were William, George, Charles and the most famous, Dr. Andrew Murray . John left in 1838 at the age of 12 with his second eldest brother, Andrew, for Scotland , from where their father had come to the Cape in 1822 as one of the first ministers , to be educated there. Both brothers obtained their MA degrees in Aberdeen by 1845 and left together for Holland to study for the ministry at the University of Utrecht. In 1848, he mentioned in his letters to his father at Graaff-Reinet the necessity of a theological seminary for South Africa.

The following year, shortly after his return to South Africa, he accepted a call to the Dutch Reformed congregation of Burgersdorp , which had been founded only three years earlier. He was confirmed on 27 May 1849 and worked there for nine years. In November 1858, he settled in Stellenbosch to become one of the first two professors at the Seminary , together with Prof. Nicolaas Hofmeyr .Murray went to Scotland in 1881 due to ill health . He died on 27 December 1882 , shortly after his return to South Africa. At the time of his death, he was still a professor at the Seminary.

It has been said of Murray that his meticulous sense of duty was accompanied by a clear and sober mind and a deep piety. Moreover, he was calm and not at all a fighter. " If others were armed with fire and jumped into the breach, then he saw it calmly, and calmly continued to rebuild the walls of the fallen fortress. He did not handle the sword, but the trowel. He was not a warrior, but a hard worker. "