Murrie was born at 125 Perth Road, a humble flat over shops in
Dundee on 19 December 1903 the son of Catherine Stuart Burgh and Thomas Murrie, a commercial traveller from
Broughty Ferry. He was educated at
Harris Academy in west Dundee. He studied Classics first at the
University of Edinburgh then at
Balliol College, Oxford. He joined the
Scottish Office as a civil servant in 1926 and was soon appointed Private Secretary to Sir
Godfrey Collins. In 1935 he transferred to the Department of Health as Permanent Secretary (assisted by
Norman Graham), where he prepared the plans for the evacuation of Scottish children in the run up to the
Second World War. In 1944 he transferred from
Edinburgh to
London first as Under Secretary then as Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet Office. From 1948 to 1952 he served as Deputy to
William Elias Newsam. In 1952 he returned to Scotland as Secretary of the
Scottish Education Department with colleagues including
William Arbuckle and James Brunton. After a short spell as Secretary to the Scottish Home Department he became Permanent Under Secretary of State to the
Scottish Office in 1959. He retired in 1964 shortly after his 60th birthday. On 2 July 1968 he was awarded an honorary doctorate (LLD) by the
University of Dundee. He died in a nursing home in
Edinburgh on 6 June 1994 aged 90. ==Family==