I can't find any biographical details at the moment, but Clarence W. Murphy was also responsible, usually in collaboration with others, for quite a few popular songs at the turn of the 19th/20th century. He wrote She's a Lassie from Lancashire with Dan Lipton and John Neat; Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly? with Will Letters (quoted here is a re-write localised to the USA); and Oh, oh, Antonio (don't know the details).

As indicated in Masato's link, James Joyce was quite fond of My Girl's a Yorkshire Girl, including it in The Dead; his copy of the sheet music is now held at the University of Miami.