John Murray, 8th Baronet

General Sir John Murray, 8th Baronet, GCH (c. 1768 – 15 October 1827) led a brigade under Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War. Later in the war, he commanded an independent force that operated on the east coast of Spain.

Murray served as Quartermaster General in India from 1801 to 1805. There, "his alternations of torpor and feverish activity had greatly embarrassed the young Arthur Wellesley with whom he was supposed to be cooperating." He married Anne Elizabeth Cholmley Phipps on 25 August 1807.

During the Second Battle of Porto in 1809, Major General Murray commanded the 7th Brigade, the largest brigade in Wellington's army. This 2,900-strong unit included the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 7th King's German Legion (KGL) Infantry battalions, plus elements of the 1st and 2nd KGL Light Infantry. After giving Murray two additional cavalry squadrons, Wellington entrusted him with the task of crossing the Douro River and cutting off the escape route of Marshal Nicolas Soult's French corps. Accordingly, Murray crossed the Douro at a ferry 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Porto and moved north. However, he failed to seriously contest the French retreat to the northeast. Instead, he skirmished ineffectually with the enemy. Michael Glover, historian of the Peninsular War, calls Murray "a stupid and irresolute officer."

He soon left Portugal because he feared he would have to serve under William Carr Beresford, who was Marshal of the Portuguese Army. Beresford was junior to Murray in British rank, but as a Marshal who would outrank him in the field. He became 8th Baronet Murray of Dunerne in 1811.

On 31 July 1812, an 8,000-man Anglo-Sicilian force under Thomas Maitland landed at Alicante on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. It then went through a succession of commanders until February 1813, when Murray, now a Lieutenant-General, took command. By this time, the force was 10,000 men strong. Of these, 3,000 were Sicilians and Italians, while the rest were British and KGL troops. Two Spanish divisions, 8,000 men, also came under his orders.

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