This is a collection of letters received by Mrs Emma Murray in Battersea while her son was serving as a seaman in the Royal Navy and then when he was starting a new life in Australia. There are two related carte-de-visite photographs. The letters up to January 1876 were written on a regular basis (on most Sundays) and can be placed in chronological sequence. The later ones are more difficult to date and there are long interruptions in the correspondence.

Administrative / biographical background
Murray was born at Kensington in London in 1858. He joined the boys training ship HMS IMPREGNABLE at Devonport in 1875 and served in the Royal Navy until 1881, when he deserted from the wooden screw corvette HMS WOLVERINE (1863) at Sydney. He joined a theatrical company and then went mining for gold, intending to earn a fortune and return to London. He later settled down at Rushworth in Victoria and changed his name to Albert Melville. His record of service in the Royal Navy can be found under the reference ADM 188/97/90744 at The National Archives.