Alexander Murray , 8th Earl of Dunmore Alexander Edward Murray , 8th Earl of Dunmore VC , DSO , MVO , DL ( 22 April 1872 – 29 January 1962 ) , more commonly known by the courtesy title Viscount Fincastle , which he bore until 1907 , was a British soldier and politician . Early life and colonial military career . Murray was born on 22 April 1872 to Charles Murray , 7th Earl of Dunmore and Lady Gertrude Coke , immediately taking the courtesy title of Viscount Fincastle . His grandparents included Alexander Murray , 6th Earl of Dunmore , Lady Catherine Herbert , Thomas Coke , 2nd Earl of Leicester , and Lady Juliana Whitbread . His paternal great - grandmother being the Russian noblewoman Countess Catherine Woronzoff ( or Vorontsov a ) , daughter of the Russian ambassador to St James ' s , Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov . He was educated privately and at Eton before joining the army . On 30 May 1892 , Murray was commissioned into the 16th Lancers and sent to India . Murray was aide - de - camp to Victor Bruce , 9th Earl of Elgin , Governor - General of India from 1895 to 1897 . In 1896 , he accompanied the Dongola Expedition to the Sudan and saw action in the Mahdist War . Victoria Cross . In 1897 , aged 26 , while a lieutenant in the 16th Lancers , Murray returned to India also acting as a war correspondent for " The Times " . On 17 August 1897 at Nawa Kili , Upper Swat , British India , Lieutenant Murray with two other officers ( Robert Bellew Adams and Hector Lachlan Stewart MacLean ) and five men of the Guides , went under a heavy and close fire , to the rescue of a lieutenant of the Lancashire Fusiliers who was lying disabled by a bullet wound and surrounded by enemy swordsmen . While the wounded officer was being brought under cover , he was killed by a bullet . One of the officers of the rescue party was mortally wounded and four horses were shot . The message sent to their superiors read : Later political and military career . Murray ' s account of his colonial service was published in 1898 . In 1899 , Murray was posted to South Africa as aide - de - camp to General Sir H . C . Chermside in South Africa . He fought in the Second Boer War and was present at the Relief of Kimberley . In 1902 , he raised and commanded Fincastle ' s Horse ( 31st Imperial Yeomanry ) , and earned a Mention in Despatches . In 1906 , Murray was awarded the Royal Victorian Order for services to the Prince of Wales , in connection with the marriage of King Alfonso of Spain . When in February 1907 Murray ' s father died , he succeeded to the family titles , becoming the ninth earl , and resigned his commission to look after the family ' s considerable estates . He returned to active duty in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I , serving as a staff officer on the Western Front . He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order during the Battle of the Somme , was Mentioned in Despatches four times and wounded twice . Between the wars , Murray held political office , serving as a government whip in the House of Lords ; first , as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen - at - Arms in 1924 ; and then as a Lord - in - Waiting from 1930 to 1936 . He also held the ceremonial role of Deputy Lieutenant of Inverness - shire . Personal life . On 5 January 1904 , he married Lucinda Dorothea Kemble , daughter of Colonel Horace William Kemble . They had three children : He died in London on 29 January 1962 .