Sir James Murray | |
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General Sir James Murray as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, May 1905
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Born |
Ireland |
13 March 1853
Died | 17 October 1919 Cringletie, Peebleshire, Scotland |
(aged 66)
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/branch | British Army |
Years of service | 1872–1917 |
Rank | Lieutenant-General |
Commands held |
Eastern Command Chief of the Imperial General Staff Scottish Command 9th (Secunderabad) Division |
Battles/wars |
Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War Second Boer War First World War |
Awards |
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Order of Saint Anna, 1st Class (Russia) Order of the White Eagle (Russia) Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (Japan) |
Lieutenant-General Sir James Wolfe Murray KCB (13 March 1853 – 17 October 1919) was a British Army officer who served in the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War, Second Boer War and First World War. He became Chief of the Imperial General Staff three months after the start of the First World War, but was ineffectual and was replaced in September 1915 following the failure of the Dardanelles campaign.
Born the son of James Wolfe Murray (1814–1890) and Elizabeth Charlotte Murray (née Whyte-Melville) and educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond, Harrow School and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Murray was commissioned into the Royal Artillery on 12 September 1872. He was promoted to captain on 1 November 1881. After attending Staff College, Camberley he became Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster-General in Northern England January 1884.
He went on to be Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster-General in the Intelligence Branch at Headquarters of the Army on 1 June 1884, Deputy Assistant-Quartermaster General in the Intelligence Branch on 31 August 1884 and Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General (with responsibility for intelligence on Russia, Central and South Asia and the Far East) on 1 June 1887. Promoted to major in January 1889 he was appointed a special service officer at Headquarters in April 1892 and then Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General for Instruction at Aldershot on 10 January 1894.