Hugh Murray-Aynsley

Hugh Murray-Aynsley
Hugh Murray-Aynsley
Canterbury Provincial Council
In office 6 February 1864 – 7 May 1866
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Lyttelton
In office 28 December 1875 – 15 August 1879
Preceded by	Henry Richard Webb
Succeeded by	Harry Allwright
Personal details
Born	8 October 1828 Gloucestershire, England
Died	22 February 1917(1917-02-22) (aged 88) St Albans, Christchurch, New Zealand
Resting place	Woolston Cemetery
Residence	Riverlaw (1862–1905)
Religion	Anglican

Hugh Percy Murray–Aynsley (8 October 1828 – 22 February 1917) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in Canterbury, New Zealand.

Murray-Aynsley was born in Gloucestershire, England, in 1828. His father was John Murray-Aynsley (1795–1870) from Little Harle Tower, his grandfather was Lord Charles Murray-Aynsley (1771–1808), and his great-grandfather was John Murray, 3rd Duke of Atholl (1729–1774). His mother was Emma Sarah Peach, and his mother's grandfather was Henry Cruger. His grandfather was baptised as Charles Murray and upon his marriage to Alicia Mitford (1768–1813), the heiress of her great-uncle, Gawen Aynsley, Esq, he assumed the additional surname Aynsley. Murray-Aynsley was educated privately; his tutor later became Bishop of Ely.

For a time, Murray-Aynsley managed a sugar plantation in Trinidad for his cousin, Sir William Miles, with the firm operating as Miles & Co. He came to Melbourne on the Royal Bride, and from there to New Zealand in 1858, arriving on the Queen in Lyttelton.

He was manager and the principal partner for the Christhurch branch of Miles & Co, which were stock and station agents. He married Elizabeth Campbell on 7 June 1859. In 1862, Murray-Aynsley purchased Riverlaw, a rural property at the bottom of Rapaki Track adjacent to the Heathcote River originally owned by Alexander Lean. Sometime between 1885 and 1892, Murray-Aynsley had a two-storey homestead built. He sold Riverlaw in 1905 to George John Smith, who further enlarged the house including the addition of a third storey. On 6 September 1984, the house was registered with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust as a Category II heritage place, with registration number 3728; Riverlaw was regarded as one of the finest colonial homes in Christchurch. It was significantly damaged in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and demolished soon after.