David King Murray, Lord Birnam

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Thomas David King Murray, Lord Birnam, FRSE (29 March 1884 – 5 June 1955) was a Scottish lawyer and judge who also served as a Unionist MP for a time. He was known as Lord Murray from 1938 to 1941 and as Sir David King Murray from 1941 to 1945, later becoming Lord Birnam when he joined the bench again in 1945. Born in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, he was the son of James Murray, a Glasgow merchant. He studied at Hamilton Academy, Glasgow High School and the University of Glasgow, earning an MA (1904), a BSc (1905) and an LLB (1908). He trained as a solicitor in Glasgow and was admitted as an advocate in 1910. In World War I he served as a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. After the war he held several legal posts, including Junior Counsel to the Treasury in Scotland (1927–28), Sheriff-Substitute of Lanarkshire at Airdrie (1928–1933), then King’s Counsel from 1933 and Senior Advocate Depute (1936–1938). In 1938 he became Chairman of the Scottish Land Court, taking the title Lord Murray. He left the court in 1941 to join the wartime coalition government as Solicitor General for Scotland and was knighted that year. He was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1941. From 1941 to 1945 he served as Solicitor General for Scotland, and in 1943 he was elected as the Unionist MP for Midlothian and Peebles North, serving until 1945. After retiring from Parliament, he was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice and Lord of Session, taking the title Lord Birnam. In 1946 he married Edith Lillian Archer. His nephew was Ronald King Murray, Lord Murray. He died on 5 June 1955, aged 71.