Life and times of James Murray

Sir James Murray, from Denholm, near Hawick in Roxburghshire, left school at 14 because his parents could not afford the fees.

He became a teacher at Hawick Grammar School aged 17 and three years later was headmaster.

In 1878, Murray was invited to Oxford to meet the delegates of the Oxford University Press, with a view to his editing a new English dictionary.

As Murray embarked on the task, he formed a relationship with William Minor.

Minor was a former Union Army captain and surgeon in the American Civil War. Winchester believes he lost his mind after being forced to use a red-hot iron to brand the face of a deserter with the letter D.

He was confined to a US asylum for a while before moving to London, where his paranoid delusions led to murder.

His victim, who he falsely believed had broken into his room, was a father of six whose wife was pregnant when he died.

Minor was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity and locked up in Broadmoor.

As he had his army pension and was not judged dangerous, he was able to buy and read books.

Later, Murray successfully campaigned to have him returned to the US, although his mental condition continued to worsen. He died in a Connecticut asylum for the elderly insane in 1920.