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

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, Brassey and

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. 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

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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

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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,

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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

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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