Chronology

Full chronology version

1841

Robert Peel's second term as Prime Minister

1841

John Murray publishes The State in its relation with the Church by William Ewart Gladstone

1842

Palaeontologist Richard Owen coins the term Dinosauria to refer to the "distinct tribe or sub-order of Saurian Reptiles" that were discovered in the fossil record

1842 - 1847

Austen Henry Layard's first expedition to the ruins of Nineveh in Assyria

1843

John Murray II dies

1843

Ada Lovelace translates Luigi Federico Menabrea's description of Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, adding her own extensive annotations including calculation of Bernoulli numbers

1845

Irish Potato Famine

1846

Murray publishes Herman Melville's Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life in England

Portrait of Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Bt, by Henry William Pickersgill (n.d.)

1846

The Corn Laws are repealed; John Murray published Robert Peel's "Speech on the repeal of the Corn Laws"

1847

Murray publishes Herman Melville's sequel to Typee - Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas in England

1848

Lord Melbourne dies

Manuscript of Layard's Discoveries in the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon (c. 1847)

1848 - 1849

John Murray publishes Layard's Nineveh and its Remains

1849

Murray publishes Joseph Cunningham's A History of the Sikhs: From the Origin of the Nation to the Battles of the Sutlej

1849 - 1851

Layard's second expedition to Assyria, during which he discovers the ruins of the library of Ashurbanipal

1851

John Murray IV is born

Marked proof engraving, "Reception of the mission by Shinte", an illustration for Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa by David Livingstone

1851

The missionary and explorer, David Livingstone, embarks on an exploration to chart the Zambezi River

Photograph of Laurence Oliphant (c. 1860-1880).

1852

John Murray publishes Laurence Oliphant's A Journey to Katmandu

1853 - 1856

Crimean War

1854

Birth of Hallam Murray, second son of John Murray III and Marion Smith

1855

Caroline Norton submits to parliament, which was then debating the subject of divorce reform, an account of her marriage to George Norton

Missionary Travels by David Livingstone

1857

Murray publishes David Livingstone's Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa

1859

Murray publishes Self Help by Samuel Smiles, the first book of its kind

On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

1859

John Murray publishes Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species

1863

Murray publishes Henry Walter Bates' The Naturalist on the River Amazons

Portrait of David Livingstone from an engraving by Joseph Brown (c. 1865-1880)

1865

Murray publishes David and Charles Livingstone's Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries; and of the Discovery of the Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858-1864

1868

Benjamin Disraeli's first term as Prime Minister

William Ewart Gladstone (1892)

1868

William Gladstone's first term as Prime Minister

Life of Lady Byron by Harriet Beecher-Stowe

1870

American writer, Harriet Beecher-Stowe, publishes Lady Byron Vindicated: a history of the Byron controversy, from its beginning in 1816 to the present time, in Boston

Engraving of Isabella Bird Bishop (n.d.)

1872

Isabella Bird travels to Australia and Hawaii

1873

Isabella Bird travels 800 miles through the Rocky Mountains

1873

David Livingstone dies

1874

Benjamin Disraeli's second term as Prime Minister

1878

Murray publishes Heinrich Schliemann's Mycenae

Isabella Bird's photography

1878

Isabella Bird travels to Asia, visiting Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaya

1880

William Gladstone's second term as Prime Minister

1880

John Murray publishes Isabella Bird's The Hawaiian Archipelago: six months among the palm groves, coral reefs and volcanoes of the Sandwich Islands

1882

Darwin dies

Engraving of James Nasmyth, used as the frontispiece for his autobiography (1883)

1883

John Murray publishes the autobiography of engineer and inventor, James Nasmyth

1887

The firm publishes the short-lived periodical, Murray's Magazine

Isabella Bird's photography

1889

Isabella Bird travels to India, Persia, Kurdistan, and Turkey

1891

Robert Cooke dies

1891

John Murray publishes the first volume of Isabella Bird's Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan

Isabella Bird's photography

1891

Isabella Bird travels to Persia and Armenia

1892

John Murray III dies

1892

Isabella Bird becomes the first woman allowed to join the Royal Geographical Society

Portrait of Richard Owen with a crocodile skull (1856)

1894

John Murray IV publishes The Life of Richard Owen, a biography of the palaeontologist written by his grandson

1897

Isabella Bird travels to China and Korea

1898

William Gladstone dies

1898

John Murray publishes Isabella Bird's Korea and her neighbours: a narrative of travel, with an account of the vicissitudes and position of the country

1899

John Murray publishes Isabella Bird's The Yangtze Valley and Beyond: An account of journeys in China, chiefly in the province of Sze Chuan and among the Man-Tze of the Somo Territory

1901

Queen Victoria dies

Isabella Bird's photography

1903

Isabella Bird travels to Morocco

1904

Isabella Bird dies

1908

John Murray IV publishes The Letters of Queen Victoria in three volumes

1908

Hallam Murray resigns from the firm

1912 - 1975

John Murray purchases and publishes The Cornhill Magazine

1926

John Murray IV receives a knighthood in recognition for his charitable work and the publication of The Letters of Queen Victoria

1928

John Murray IV dies

1934

Hallam Murray dies

1971

The Byron Society is re-established

2002

The John Murray imprint is acquired by Hodder

2006

The John Murray Archives move from their historic home at 50 Albemarle Street to the National Library of Scotland