Sir William Montagu Scott McMurdo (30 May 1819 – 2 March 1894) was a British army
officer
An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...
who rose to the rank of general. He saw active service in India, helped to run a military railway in the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
and then managed various groups of volunteers working with the army. He was eventually
knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
ed.
Biography
He was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald McMurdo of Loch Arthur,
Kirkcudbrightshire
Kirkcudbrightshire ( ), or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative county ...
and commissioned in the
8th Foot in 1837. In 1841 he became lieutenant in the
22nd Foot which went to India that year. There he served under
Sir Charles Napier and in 1843 was involved in the battles of
Miani and
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
. In the latter he was wounded and also
mentioned in dispatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
. Later that year he was promoted to
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
in the
28th Foot but then transferred to the
78th Highlanders
The 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a Highland Infantry Regiment of the Line, raised in 1793. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with 72nd Regiment, Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders to form the Seaforth Highlanders in 1881.
Hi ...
. In 1844 he married Napier's daughter. When Napier returned to India in 1849, McMurdo went with him as his
aide-de-camp.
[Lloyd, E M, 'McMurdo, Sir William Montagu Scott (1819–1894)', rev Roger T Stearn, '']Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', Oxford University Press, 200
Retrieved 25 February 2007
In 1853 he was promoted to
lieutenant-colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
and acted as assistant
adjutant-general
An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer.
France
In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...
in Dublin. The following year he was appointed director-general of the newly formed
Land Transport Corps and went to
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
to assist in running the
Grand Crimean Central Railway
The Grand Crimean Central Railway was a military railway built in 1855 during the Crimean War by Great Britain. Its purpose was to supply ammunition and provisions to Allied soldiers engaged in the Siege of Sevastopol who were stationed on a pl ...
. He eventually took it over from the contractors
Peto
Peto may refer to:
People
* Peto (surname), includes a list of people with the surname Peto
* Kawu Peto Dukku (1958–2010), Nigerian politician, Senator for the Gombe North constituency of Gombe State, Nigeria
Other uses
* PETO, a German party
* ...
,
Brassey and
Betts Betts is an English Patronymic surname, deriving from the medieval personal name Bett, a short form of Bartholomew, Beatrice, or Elizabeth. It is also the americanized spelling of German Betz. The surname may refer to
* Alejandro Jacobo Betts (1947 ...
. He received from the French the
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
(fourth class) and from the Turks the
Mejidiye (fourth class). After the end of the Crimean War the Land Transport Corps was converted into the Military Train in 1857 and McMurdo was made its colonel-commander. From 1860 he became involved with the volunteers working with the army and became the inspector-general of volunteers. In 1865 he established the Engineer and Volunteers Staff Corps. He also became the colonel of the
Inns of Court
The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple.
All barristers must belong to one of them. They have ...
Volunteers and of the Engineer and Volunteers Staff Corps.
From 1866 to 1870 he commanded a brigade in the Dublin district, then in the
Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...
district in
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
from 1870 to 1873. He was promoted
major-general
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
in 1868,
lieutenant-general
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
in 1876 and general in 1878. He was colonel of the
69th Foot
The 69th (South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1756. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 41st (Welch) Regiment of Foot to form the Welch Regiment in 1881.
History Formation
Th ...
in 1876, then transferred to the
15th Foot in 1877 and the 22nd Foot (Cheshire Regiment) in 1888. In 1881 he was made
KCB and subsequently GCB in 1893.
He was a councillor of the
Oxford Military College
Oxford Military College was an all-male private boarding school and military academy in Cowley, Oxford, England, from 1876 to 1896. The military college opened on 7 September 1876. Prince George, Duke of Cambridge was the patron of the Oxfor ...
in
Cowley and
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
from 1876 to 1894. He died in
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
in 1894.
His daughter Caroline Amelia married the explorer and writer
Charles Montagu Doughty
Charles Montagu Doughty (19 August 1843 – 20 January 1926) was an English poet, writer, explorer, adventurer and traveller, best known for his two-volume 1888 travel book '' Travels in Arabia Deserta''.
Early life and education
Son of Rev. Ch ...
; their elder daughter
Dorothy Doughty
Dorothy Susan Doughty (Sanremo 1892 – 6 October 1962) was a British sculptor and potter, including for Royal Worcester, specialising in representations of birds.
Early life and education
She was the elder daughter of poet, writer, and travelle ...
was a sculptor and potter.
[The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal, The Mortimer-Percy Volume, Melville Henry Massue, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994 (reprint), pp. 523]
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:McMurdo, William
1819 births
1894 deaths
King's Regiment (Liverpool) officers
28th Regiment of Foot officers
British Army generals
British Army personnel of the Crimean War
Cheshire Regiment officers
East Yorkshire Regiment officers
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
78th Highlanders officers
Welch Regiment officers
Recipients of the Order of the Medjidie, 4th class
Recipients of the Legion of Honour
Engineer and Railway Staff Corps officers