Writer and reviewer John Middleton Murry was born in Peckham, London, 6 August 1889. He was educated at Christ's Hospital, and Brasenose College, Oxford. His literary career began in 1911 and his last book was published in 1957. Murry promoted the work of his wife, Katherine Mansfield, after her death in 1923, and his friendship with D. H. Lawrence inspired work on the great novelist.

In the 1920s, Murry's interests shifted from literature to religious philosophy, and in the 1930s he converted to Marxism and then moved politically towards pacifism. His writing of the period reflected these shifts in interest.

John Middleton Murry died 12 March 1957. That year too saw the publication of his Love, Freedom and Society about the thought of his friend D. H. Lawrence. This work was believed by Murry to be his greatest.