Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Major G. B. Murray, C.I.E., Supply and Transport Corps, Indian Army

1914 Star (Capt. G. B. Murray, S. & T. Corps.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Major G. B. Murray.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919 (Maj. G. B. Murray, S.T.C.) light contact marks, very fine (4) £180-£220

C.I.E. London Gazette 22 March 1919:
‘For services in connection with Military Operations on the North West Frontier of India.’

Graham Bell Murray was born in Moffat, Dumfriesshire, Scotland on 27 July 1881, the son of Fleet Surgeon George Bell Murray, Royal Navy, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, on 5 December 1899. Promoted Lieutenant, he subsequently received a commission in the Regular Army as a Second Lieutenant in the Middlesex Regiment on 5 January 1901, and was promoted Lieutenant on 28 February 1902. In October of that year he qualified for the Indian Staff Corps, and was posted to the 11th Coorg Infantry, stationed at Bangalore. He served on the Indian frontiers with the Supply and Transport Corps from 1904, and was promoted to Captain on 5 January 1910, and Major on 5 January 1916. For his services during the Great War and the subsequent operations on the North-West Frontier during the Third Afghan War Murray was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 18 May 1920) and created a companion of the Order of the Indian Empire.

In later life Murray was a keen breeder of Afghan hounds, and is responsible for introducing and popularising the breed in Britain- his kennel in 1928 contained over 80 Afghan hounds.