Murray William James Bourchier
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Brigadier Sir Murray Bourchier CMG, DSO, VD |
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| Deputy Premier of Victoria | |
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In office April 1935 – June 1936 |
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| Preceded by | Wilfrid Kent Hughes |
| Succeeded by | Francis Old |
| Constituency | Goulbourn Valley |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
4 April 1881 Pootilla, Victoria |
| Died | 16 December 1937 (aged 56) London, England, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | Country Party |
| Spouse(s) | Minona Madden |
| Children | 3 |
| Profession | Grazier, soldier |
| Religion | Church of England |
Brigadier Sir Murray William James Bourchier, CMG, DSO, VD (4 April 1881 – 16 December 1937) was an Australian soldier and former Deputy Premier of Victoria from April 1935 until June 1936.
Murray was the eldest son of Edward and Francis Bourchier, owners of the Woodland Park property near Strathmerton, Victoria. He was educated privately in Melbourne and afterwards worked at Woodland Park.
Bourchier commanded a CMF light horse troop at Numurkah, Victoria from 1909 to 1914. At the outbreak of World War I he was commissioned into the 4th Light Horse Regiment and left with the first contingent of the First Australian Imperial Force. He served with the Regiment in the Gallipoli, Egyptian, Sinai, Palestine and Syrian campaigns.
While on Gallipoli he was appointed temporary captain on 1 July 1915 and adjutant of the 4th Light Horse Regiment on 7 September. He became the acting commander of "A" Squadron on 19 October 1915 and gained his substantive Captaincy on 22 November. He was promoted to major on 20 January 1916. The recommendation for promotion noted that "he was always quite cool and collected, and this had a very good effect upon his men". He assumed full command of "A" Squadron on 1 February 1916.
Bourchier was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 15 March 1917 and took command of the 4th Light Horse Regiment. On 31 October 1917 he led the 4th and 12th Regiments in the four-mile charge against Turkish positions at the Battle of Beersheba, capturing 15 of the 17 wells intact and taking over 700 prisoners. In a later report he summed up the effect of the attack:
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