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Auction: 19001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 465

Pair: Captain R. L. Murray, 1/4th Northamptonshire Regiment, who was killed in action at the Second Battle of Gaza in April 1917

British War and Victory Medals (Capt. R. L. Murray), extremely fine (2)

Robert Leslie Murray was born at Reigate, Surrey on 28 October 1893, the son of the Rev. Arthur H. Murray and his wife, Ada. He was educated at St. Edmund's School and Jesus College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a Lillistone Scholarship of £70 and in 1913 became the Senior Classical Scholar after he had distinguished himself in the Bell Scholarship Examinations.

Aside from being a hard-working Classical Scholar, he was a member of the Jesus College Boat Club, stroking the second boat in the May Races 1914. He also stroked the Jesus boat in the Thames Cup at Henley that year and was narrowly beaten by Caius in the final.

Murray first saw action in Gallipoli, where he landed at 'A' Beach in Suvla Bay as a Lieutenant in the 1/4th Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment on 15 August 1915. The Battalion was heavily engaged at Scimitar Hill and elsewhere on the peninsula and, by November, mustered just two officers and 200 other ranks; its original strength on coming ashore at Suvla had been 28 officers and 913 other ranks. As stated in his Jesus College obituary notice, he was among the Battalion's wounded.

He subsequently served in Egypt and Palestine and was killed in action at the Second Battle of Gaza on 19 April 1917. On that date he was twice hit, each time rising to lead his men on, after which he was killed by machine-gun fire. (The Jesus College Cambridge Society Annual Report, 1917, refers). He was mentioned in despatches.

He is commemorated on the Jerusalem Memorial; the whereabouts of the recipient's 1914-15 Star remains unknown.

For further details, see:
https://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/robert-leslie-murray


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Sold for
£150