Murdoch family

Members of the Murdoch family  are prominent as international media  proprietors,  especially in Australia, the United Kingdom  and United States. Some members have also been prominent in the arts, clergy and military in Australia.

Five generations of the family are descended from two Scottish emigrants to Australia: the Reverend James Murdoch (1828–?), a minister of the Free Church of Scotland  and his wife Helen, née Garden (1826–?).^[1] The couple were both from the Pitsligo  area of Aberdeenshire  and emigrated to the Colony of Victoria  in 1884.^[1]

First generation

Professor Walter Murdoch (left) and family at Point Lonsdale, Victoria, in 1910. His wife, Violet Catherine Murdoch (née Hughston) is upper centre. Their daughter, Catherine Helen Murdoch (later Dr Catherine King MBE, 1904–2000) is shown centre right and her brother William (Will) Murdoch (1900–1950) is on the right.

The Rev. James Murdoch and Helen Murdoch had 14 children:[1] Patrick John Murdoch (1850–1940), better known as the Rev. Patrick Murdoch; Francis Garden Murdoch (1852–? ); James Murdoch (1854–? ); Eliza ("Lizzie") Jane Murdoch (1855–? ); William Garden Murdoch (1856–? ); Ivon Lewis Murdoch (1858–? ); Andrew Chrystal Murdoch (1859–? ); Helen Nora Murdoch, later known as Nora Curle Smith (1861–1924); Keith Arthur Murdoch (1862–? ); Isabella Agnes Murdoch. (1864–? ); Hugh Murdoch (1865–? ); Grace Young Murdoch (1867–? ); Amelia Morison Murdoch (1870–? ) and; Walter Logie Murdoch (1874–1970), better known as Sir Walter Murdoch. The Rev. Patrick Murdoch was born in Pitsligo and raised at Rosehearty, Aberdeenshire.[1][2] He was ordained at Cruden, Aberdeenshire, where he also married Annie Brown (in 1882). At the age of 34, Murdoch emigrated with his wife and parents to Victoria. He was a prominent there as a Presbyterian minister and published several books on theology. Nora Curle Smith, née Murdoch, was born in Pitsligo and married David Curle Smith (1859–1922), an electrical engineer. Curle Smith who was in charge of the municipal electricity supply at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia during the early 20th century, invented a pioneering electric stove, which he patented in 1906.[3] To promote the stove, Nora Curle Smith wrote the world's first cookbook for electric stoves, which featured 161 recipes and operating instructions for the stove, under the name H. Nora Curle Smith: Thermo-Electrical Cooking Made Easy (1907). Nora Curle Smith was also a noted painter.

The Peel campus of Murdoch University, which is named after Sir Walter Murdoch.

Sir Walter Murdoch KCMG, who was born at Rosehearty, was a prominent Australian academic and essayist. He married Violet Catherine Hughston in 1897. Murdoch published his first essay, "The new school of Australian poets", in 1899 and for many years he wrote a weekly column titled "Books and Men" for the Melbourne Argus (under the pen name of "Elzevir").^[4] His academic career began with an appointment in 1904 as an assistant lecturer in English at Melbourne University. In 1913, he was appointed founding Professor of English at the University of Western Australia (UWA). During the 1920s, his essays were syndicated across Australia through the Herald & Weekly Times newspaper group run by his nephew, Sir Keith Murdoch (see below). Collections of Walter Murdoch's writings were published in book form from the 1930s onwards. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1939, served as Chancellor of UWA in 1943–1948 and was made a Professor Emeritus upon his retirement. Violet Murdoch died in 1952 and 10 years later Murdoch remarried, to Barbara Marshall Cameron. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1964.^[4] Murdoch University, the second Western Australian institution to achieve university status, was named in his honour, as was the surrounding suburb of Murdoch. Both Murdoch University, in Perth and the suburb surrounding its main campus, Murdoch are named after Sir Walter Murdoch. The university has three campuses in Western Australia, as well as international study centres in Dubai and Singapore.

Two of Patrick and Annie Murdoch's six children achieved prominence:^{[1][5][6][7][8][9]}

• a journalist and newspaper executive, Keith Arthur Murdoch (1885–1952), better known as Sir Keith Murdoch and;
• a soldier and farmer, Ivon George Murdoch (1892–1958?), also known as Ivan Murdoch.^[8][9]

Second generation

Sir Keith Murdoch (1885–1952).

Sir Keith Murdoch was born in West Melbourne and grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Camberwell.[10] He became prominent as a journalist, while serving as a war correspondent during World War I. In 1921, Murdoch was appointed chief editor of the Melbourne Herald and in 1928 became managing director of its parent company, The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd. That same year he married Elisabeth Joy Greene (1909–2012), later who was later prominent as the philanthropist Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE (1909–2012). Murdoch was knighted in 1933. During World War II, Sir Keith Murdoch served briefly in an Australian government role, as Director-General of Information.[11] Lieutenant Ivon Murdoch MC and bar, saw action with the 8th Battalion (AIF) on the Western Front during World War I.[8][9] He achieved the rare distinction of twice being awarded the Military Cross (MC) for bravery; his first resulted from him leading extended night patrols, during March and April 1918, south-east of Ypres in No Man's Land and behind German lines, which captured a pillbox and returned wounded men to Australian positions. The second MC was awarded for actions during August 1918 that: successfully defended recently captured German field guns near Rosieres and; set up a machine gun enfilade, during the Battle of Lihons (part of the Hundred Days Offensive). After the war, Ivon Murdoch was a farmer at Wantabadgery, New South Wales. The children of Andrew Chrystal Murdoch and Annie Murdoch (née Esler) included a prominent concert pianist, William David Murdoch (born at Bendigo, Victoria, Australia in 1888; died at Holmbury St Mary, England, 1942). A daughter of Sir Walter and Violet Murdoch, Dr Catherine King MBE, née Murdoch (born in 1904 in Surrey Hills, Victoria), was a pioneering radio broadcaster in Western Australia. She died in 2000. The children of Sir Keith and Dame Elisabeth Murdoch included: Helen Murdoch, later Helen Handbury AC (1929–2004); Keith Rupert Murdoch, (1931– ) usually known as Rupert Murdoch; Anne Murdoch, later Kantor (1936– ) and; Elisabeth Janet Murdoch, later known as Janet Calvert-Jones AM (1939– ) a company director and philanthropist.

Third generation

Rupert Murdoch at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, 2007.

Rupert Murdoch AC KSG, born in Melbourne, is a major international media proprietor – he chairs two United States-based companies that control most of his assets: News Corp and 21st Century Fox.

Murdoch's career as a media proprietor began in 1952, when he inherited his father's stake in News Limited.^[12] The company's only major asset was an in Adelaide daily newspaper distributed only in South Australia, The News. During the 1950s and 1960s, News Ltd acquired daily and weekly newspapers, including suburban and provincial publications, throughout Australia and New Zealand.

From 1968, Murdoch bought British newspapers, beginning with the weekly News of the World and the daily The Sun.^[13]

Murdoch made his first acquisition in the United States in 1973, when he purchased the San Antonio Express-News. Soon afterwards, he founded a US supermarket tabloid Star, and in 1976, he purchased the New York Post.^[12]

In 1981, Murdoch acquired The Times of London and The Sunday Times.

He bought a major stake in 20th Century Fox in 1984, which became the basis of a new US free to air television network, Fox Broadcasting Company.^[12] To satisfy a legal requirement that only US citizens could own US television stations, Murdoch became a naturalised US citizen in 1985, and consequently forfeited his Australian citizenship.^[14][15]

During the 1980s and 1990s, Murdoch became involved in pay television interests throughout the world, including STAR TV and Tata Sky in Asia and BSkyB, Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland in Europe.

NewsCorp also came to control both a major international publishing house HarperCollins, and Dow Jones & Company, which includes The Wall Street Journal.

Rupert Murdoch has been married three times and has six children:

• 1956–1967: to Patricia Booker, a flight attendant from Melbourne, with whom he had one child:
  • Prudence (Prue) MacLeod, née Murdoch (1958– ).^[16][17][18]
• 1967–1999: to Anna Torv (later Anna Murdoch Mann; 1944–),^[16] an Estonian-Scottish journalist, who worked on Murdoch's Sydney Daily Telegraph, later published two novels and is the aunt of actress Anna Torv.^[18] Torv and Murdoch had three children:^[16][17]
  • Elisabeth Murdoch junior (1968– )
  • Lachlan Keith Murdoch (1971– ) and;
  • James Rupert Jacob Murdoch, also known as James R Murdoch (1972– )
• 1999–2013 Wendi Deng (1969?– ), a Chinese-US media executive and company director,^[19] They have two daughters:
  • Grace Murdoch (2001– ) and;
  • Chloe Murdoch (2003?– ).

Fourth and fifth generations

Prue Murdoch (born in Adelaide) has held directorial roles within the News Corporation empire. She has been married twice:

• 1985–c. 1986, to British financier Crispin Odey
• since 1989, to: British media executive Charles Alasdair MacLeod (usually known as Alasdair MacLeod). Both Prue and Alasdair MacLeod hold or have held directorial and/or executive roles within the News Corporation empire. They have three children:^[20]
  • James MacLeod (1991– );
  • Angus MacLeod (1993– ) and;
  • Clementine MacLeod (1996– )

Elisabeth Murdoch (born in Sydney), is a media executive and company director and has been married twice.

• 1993–1998: to Elkin Kwesi Pianim, a Ghanaian banker, with whom she had two children:^[20]
  • Cornelia Pianim (1994– );
  • Anna Pianim (1997– );
• since 2001: to British public relations specialist Matthew Freud (the son of former MP Sir Clement Freud, and a great-grandson of Sigmund Freud), with whom she had two children:^[20]
  • Charlotte Emma Freud (2000– ) and;
  • Samson Murdoch Freud (2007– ).

Lachlan Murdoch

James R Murdoch

Lachlan Murdoch (born in London), is a media executive and company director; he married the British-Australian model and actress Sarah Murdoch, née O'Hare (1972– ) in 1999; they have three children:^[20][21]

• Kalan Alexander Murdoch (2004– );
• Aidan Patrick Murdoch (2006– ) and;
• Aerin Elisabeth Murdoch (2010– ).

James R Murdoch (born in London), is a media executive and company director. In 2000, he married the US public relations specialist and climate change activist Kathryn Hufschmid. They have three children:^[20]

• Anneka Murdoch (2003– );
• Walter Murdoch (2006– ) and;
• Emerson Murdoch (2008– ).

Footnotes