Esther Murphy Strachey

Esther Strachey (née Murphy, later Arthur) was born on October 22, 1897, in the United States. She was the daughter of Patrick Francis Murphy (1858–1931), who owned the Mark Cross Company, a retailer of fine leather goods, and Anna Elizabeth Ryan (c. 1858–1932). Esther had two siblings: Gerald Clery Murphy (1888–1964) and Frederic Timothy Murphy (1884–1924).

Due to her mother's health, Murphy was unable to attend Bryn Mawr College and instead studied the Harvard University curriculum at home.

During the 1920s, she was part of a social circle comprising American expatriates living on the French Riviera. A 1926 letter by F. Scott Fitzgerald from France referenced Murphy as part of the expatriate community in Antibes, which was notably sparse that summer, mentioning her alongside figures such as Zelda Fitzgerald, the Valentinos, Mistinguett, Rex Ingram, Dos Passos, Alice Terry, the MacLeishes, Charlie Brackett, Maud Kahn, her sister-in-law Noël Haskins Murphy, Marguerite Namara, E. Oppenheimer, the Mannes family, Floyd Dell, Max and Crystal Eastman, Orlando, Etienne de Beaumont, among others.

While in Paris, she socialized with notable figures including Janet Flanner, Solita Solano, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Dolly Wilde, and Natalie Clifford Barney. Murphy's relationship with Barney was marked by a particular passion, and she contributed to literary circles alongside friends such as Mercedes de Acosta, Madge Garland, Edmund Wilson, and Dorothy Parker.

Murphy was involved in literary and social commentary, publishing essays and books, and frequently participating as a speaker and panelist. She appeared on the ABC radio program "Listen – The Women!" alongside Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Mead, and Fanny Hurst.

On April 29, 1929, Murphy married John Strachey, a British Labour politician and writer; Oswald Mosley served as the best man. In 1935, she married Gavin Arthur, a San Francisco astrologer and sexologist, who was a grandson of U.S. President Chester A. Arthur. Gavin Arthur was known for his work as a gay rights activist and as a precursor to the hippie movement. Esther and Gavin Arthur divorced in 1961.

In 1945, Murphy met the writer Sybille Bedford, who became her lover; their relationship lasted several years, after which they remained lifelong friends.

Esther Murphy died on November 23, 1962, in Paris. Her ashes were returned to the United States on December 5, 1962, and were given to her brother, Gerald Murphy.

In contemporary literature, Lisa Cohen's biography *All We Know: Three Lives*, published in 2012, examines Murphy's early life, her family's business, and her connections with other notable women such as Mercedes de Acosta and Madge Garland. Cohen described Murphy as "a marvel who became a spectacular disappointment," highlighting her historical invisibility and the tendency to remember her primarily as Gerald Murphy's sister.