As Murray's health was failing, he decided to try the English climate. In 1784, he left America and never returned. The remainder of his life was spent in literary pursuits at Holgate, near York. For the last sixteen years of his life, Murray's physical condition, likely the result of Post-Polio Syndrome, confined him to his house. Charles Monaghan's 1998 biography, "The Murrays of Murray Hill", long considered a standard work, has been recently (2011) succeeded by Fens-de Zeeuw's authoritative work on Murray's life and language use, in which several earlier misconceptions are set straight.