Harold James Ruthven Murray (24 June 1868 – 16 May 1955) was a British educationalist, inspector of schools, and prominent chess historian.

The son of Sir James Murray, the first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, he attended school at Mill Hill and, in his spare time, helped his father produce the first edition of the OED.

By the time Harold had finished school and was preparing to leave for university, he had produced over 27,000 quotations that later appeared in the OED.

Murray was a champion of the left-handed, defending children against the attempts of schools to make them conform by using their right hands.

Murray gained access to the largest chess library in the world, that of John G. White of Cleveland, Ohio, and also used the collection of J. W. Rimington Wilson in England.