Anne Murray

Who was Anne Murray?

Anne Murray was an author in Upper Canada, the wife of Chief Justice William Dummer Powell.

She was born in Wells, Norfolk, England, to Dr. John Murray and Mary Boyles, the daughter of a customs collector. Her father was born in Scotland and became a surgeon in the Royal Navy. In 1751, he graduated from the University of Edinburgh and retired on half-pay from the Navy in order to establish himself with a private medical practice at Wells and then Norwich. He was remembered as one "who distinguished himself by encouraging every charitable pursuit". He was involved in the formation of the Scots Society in 1775. She married William Dummer Powell on 3 Oct. 1775 in Boston, Massachusetts. They had nine children of whom two survived her. She died at Toronto.