Andrew Howson Murray (1905-1997) was born in Nevera, Nyasaland (Malawi) to missionary parents. He grew up in Stellenbosch and studied at Stellenbosch University. He was awarded a Rhodes scholarship and obtained the B. Lit. and Ph.D. degrees at Oxford. His first academic appointment was to the Department of Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1931. In 1937 he was appointed to the philosophy department at the University of Cape Town. He retired in 1970, and in 1971 was temporarily appointed head of the philosophy department at the University of the Western Cape following the resignation of Mr Adam Small.

Professor Murray further served as member of the following bodies: the Governor-General’s Commission on Native Education (1949-1951), the Presidential Commission on Financial Relations between Central Government and the Provinces (1960-1963), and the Rhodesia Constitution Commission (1967). He was also a long-standing member of the Publications Control Board. Due to his expertise vis-à-vis Communism, he frequently appeared as an expert witness in cases in which people had been charged in terms of the Suppression of Communism Act. He made several radio broadcasts on Communism for the SABC.

Apart from many articles in journals (such as Acta Juridica) and booklets on Communism (such as Rooi strategie en taktiek, 1962), Professor Murray’s publications include The philosophy of James Ward (1937), Die Volksraad: die beginsels en vraagstukke van volksregering, met besondere vermysing na Suid-Afrika (1939) and The political philosophy of J.A. de Mist (1962).