Charles Fairfax Murray was born in Bow, London, England on 13 September 1849 and grew up in Sudbury, Suffolk. His training as an artist is rather vague. From the age of twelve he worked in the drawing office of the railway construction engineers Peto & Betts. Recognising his talents as an artist, Samuel Morton Peto, a partner in the firm, commissioned Murray to draw portraits of members of his family. Following an encounter with the art critic John Ruskin, he was employed as studio assistant to Edward Burne-Jones in c.1867. He subsequently became acquainted with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, Philip Webb and other members of the Pre-Raphaelite circle. Morris employed him as a glass painter at Morris & Co., working on designs by Burne-Jones. He also worked on the illumination of Morris's manuscripts.