Talk:George Murray (Royal Navy officer, born 1759)/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Malleus Fatuorum 14:43, 22 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Lead

The lead ends with this quotation: "none but Murray would do". The same quotation is repeated in the Captain of the fleet section, but the capitalisation is different: "None but Murray would do".

Family and early life

"George Murray was born in Chichester in January 1759, the son of Alderman Gideon Murray, of that city." Presumably he had a mother as well?

"when he was entered on the books of Captain Francis Banks's HMS Niger as a captain's servant." On the books rather than in the books seems rather odd.

"The Niger was serving in the Mediterranean, though this was probably merely a titular employment for rank." This doesn't make sense. It's saying that "serving in the Mediterranean" was a "titular employment for rank", whatever that means.

"After receiving favourable reports of his conduct, Murray's services were requested by Vice-Admiral Lord Howe". That doesn't work because of the passive "were requested". Needs to be switched to active, as in "... Vice-Admiral Lord Howe requested Murray's services".

"He then transferred to the flagship of John Montagu, the 50-gun HMS Romney; and again in time to join Sir Peter Parker's flagship HMS Bristol for the attack on Sullivan's Island on 28 June 1776. The puncutation has gone a bit awry there. Whatever follows a semicolon must be a full sentence, capable of standing alone.

Home waters

"Howe returned to England in 1778, bringing Murray with him." Using the word "bringing" implies that the reader is also in England, which in most cases will not be true.

"... and consequently he did not act to bestow patronage on those junior officers under his command, as was the custom". Why "did not act to bestow" rather than the simpler "bestow"? The sentence is also ambiguous, as it could mean either that he followed custom by not bestowing patronage or that the custom was to bestow patronage, which Howe neglected to do.

References

I am surprised to see that this article relies so heavily on an 1894 version of the ODNB, when there is a perfectly good and easily available 2008 version available here. What's the argument in favour of using a 114-year-old source in favour of a modern one?
Going through it now. The short answer to the above question is I only have access to the old one; can't get on with your link. Wizardman _{Operation Big Bear} 03:47, 25 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Anything that hasn't been fixed yet should be within 24 hours. Wizardman _{Operation Big Bear} 03:53, 4 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.