Archibald Murray General Sir Archibald James Murray , GCB , GCMG , CVO , DSO ( 23 April 1860 – 21 January 1945 ) was a British Army officer who served in the Second Boer War and World War I . He was Chief of Staff to the BEF in August 1914 but appears to have suffered a physical breakdown in the retreat from Mons , and was required to step down from that position in January 1915 . After serving as Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff for much of 1915 , he was briefly Chief of the Imperial General Staff from September to December 1915 . He was then Commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force from January 1916 to June 1917 , in which role he laid the plans for the ultimate defeat of the Turks in Palestine . Army career . Born the son of Charles Murray and Anne Murray ( née Graves ) and educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military College , Sandhurst , Archibald Murray was commissioned into the 27th Regiment on 13 August 1879 . He was appointed adjutant of his regiment on 12 February 1886 . After promotion to captain on 1 July 1887 and taking part in the suppression of a Zulu uprising in 1888 , he became adjutant of the 4th Battalion , the Bedfordshire Regiment on 15 December 1890 . He attended Staff College , Camberley in 1897 . Promoted to major on 1 June 1898 , Murray served in the Second Boer War as Deputy Assistant Adjutant - General for Intelligence in Natal from 9 October 1899 and then as chief of staff to the commander there . He took part in the withdrawal from Dundee and then the siege of Ladysmith in late 1899 and became senior staff officer to Sir Archibald Hunter , General Officer Commanding 10th Division , early in 1900 . He was appointed Assistant Adjutant - General on 6 March 1900 , promoted to lieutenant colonel on 29 October 1900 and awarded the DSO on 29 November 1900 . He was again mentioned in despatches in February 1901 . After being appointed Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in India in October 1901 , he was deployed to Northern Transvaal in February 1902 where he was seriously wounded in April 1902 and mentioned in despatches once more in July 1902 . After returning to England he became Assistant Adjutant - General at Headquarters 1st Division at Aldershot on 3 November 1902 . Promoted to colonel on 29 October 1903 , he was appointed CB in the King ' s Birthday Honours 1904 and CVO on 12 June 1907 . Murray became Director of Military Training at the War Office on 9 November 1907 and , having been promoted to major - general on 13 July 1910 , he was advanced to KCB in the Coronation Honours in June 1911 . He also took part in the procession for the coronation of King George V on 22 June 1911 . Murray became Inspector of Infantry on 9 December 1912 . At the General Staff Conference in January 1914 he rejected proposals to adopt what he saw as a stereotyped French fire - and - movement doctrine . He then briefly commanded 2nd Division from 1 February 1914 . Chief of Staff BEF . Appointment . When the First World War started in July 1914 Murray was not appointed QuarterMaster - General of the British Expeditionary Force as was originally intended . Instead he became Chief of Staff . Murray had already earned a high reputation as a staff officer in South Africa and under French at the War Office . It is sometimes claimed that Murray was given the position largely because French ' s initial choice for the post , Wilson , was vetoed because of his role in the Curragh Affair . Although this claim was made after the war by Edmonds , Kirke ( in his memoir of Macdonogh ) and Murray , there is no contemporary evidence , even in Wilson ’ s diary , to confirm it ( unlike January 1915 , when Wilson was certainly blocked from succeeding Murray for political reasons ) . Wilson , Sir John French ( BEF Commander - in - Chief ) and Murray crossed to France on 14 August . The code books had been left behind in London , and Lieutenant Spears had to go back to London for another set . He returned to find Murray at Rheims trying to “ unravel ” the situation on a set of large maps on the floor of his hotel room , on all fours and dressed only in his underpants whilst chambermaids came and went . Retreat from Mons . During the retreat of August 1914 the BEF staff , who had not rehearsed their roles , performed poorly . French was a dynamic leader but no manager . Robertson and Kirke recorded that Murray knew little of the plans which Wilson had drawn up with the French and had to work with a staff “ almost entirely staffed from the ( Military Operations ) Directorate ” who were used to working with Wilson . This staff included Colonel Harper , GSO1 . Murray summoned the Corps Chiefs of Staff at around 1am on 24 August ( the night after the Battle of Mons ) , and ordered them to retreat , but gave them no detailed plans , leaving them to work out the details themselves . French agreed to Haig ’ s request that I Corps retreat east of the Forest of Mormal ( Haig Diary , 24 August ) without , apparently , Smith - Dorrien ( GOC II Corps ) being asked or informed . ( Inept staffwork was not unique to GHQ – neither I nor II Corps staff had checked whether or not the Forest of Mormal was occupied by the enemy . ) On 24 August Harper refused to do anything for Murray , so that Lord Loch had to write messages even though it was not his job . Loch wrote in his diary for that day that Murray was “ by nature petulant ” and “ difficult to work with ” . Murray and his staff were working flat out in intense heat at Bavai , and recorded ( 24 August ) that he had passed 24 hours without undressing or sleeping . Smith - Dorrien visited GHQ to request detailed orders on the evening of 24 August , and had to bully Murray into issuing orders for II Corps to retreat to Le Cateau . Murray noted in his diary ( 25 August ) that GHQ had moved back from Le Cateau to St Quentin and that I Corps was being heavily engaged by night – making no mention of what II Corps were up to . When 4th Division arrived ( 25 August ) Snow ’ s orders were to help prepare a defensive position on the Cambrai - Le Cateau position , as GHQ had no idea of the seriousness of the situation facing II Corps . 4th Division was eventually able to participate in the Battle of Le Cateau . The news that Smith - Dorrien planned to stand and fight at Le Cateau reached GHQ at 5am on 26 August – French was woken from his sleep , and insisting that Murray not be woken , sent Smith - Dorrien an ambiguous message that he had “ a free hand as to the method ” by which he fell back , which Smith - Dorrien took as permission to fight . Murray appears to have suffered some kind of physical collapse round about this time , although the details differ between different eyewitness accounts . Wilson recorded that Murray had “ completely broken down ” , had been given “ morphia or some other drug ” which made him incapable of work and when told ( 7am on 26 August ) of Smith - Dorrien ' s decision to stand and fight “ promptly got a fainting fit ” . Spears ' recollection ( in 1930 ) was that Murray had collapsed with a weak pulse , but did not actually faint , when told earlier during the same night ( the news later turned out to be exaggerated ) that the Germans had fallen upon Haig ' s I Corps at Landrecies . Spears wrote that Murray was too ill to attend the meeting of Sir John French with Joffre and Lanrezac on 26 August , although Terraine has him attending this meeting . General Macready later recorded that Murray fainted at his desk whilst working at Noyon ( where GHQ was based on 27 August ) . Wilson returned to GHQ on 29 August from a visit to Joffre to find - he claimed - “ a perfect debacle ” with “ Murray leading the fright ” . Removal . Wilson noted ( diary 6 Sep ) that French and Murray “ were out motoring and playing the ass all day ” . He had to intercede to prevent French from sacking Harper ( Wilson diary 7 Sep ) but a week later recorded ( Wilson diary 14 Sep ) , that Murray and Harper argued constantly . After a month Murray was still talking of “ my men ” and ( Wilson ’ ) s men ” which Wilson thought “ rather sad ” and “ deplorable ” ( Clive diary 18 Sep ) . Wilson thought French and Murray were “ between them quite unable to size up a position or to act with constancy for 24 hours ” ( Wilson diary 28 Sep ) Murray complained to Victor Huguet ( a French liaison officer serving with the British ) about Wilson ( 6 October ) , but also told Wilson that French was getting “ more unreasonable ” and asked Wilson whether he ( Murray ) should resign ; Wilson informed Billy Lambton , French ’ s secretary , of both of these incidents . Murray also ( 4 – 5 November ) complained and threatened to resign when Wilson amended one of his orders without telling him . Murray later wrote ( in 1930 ) “ the senior members ( of GHQ staff ) ignored me as far as possible , continually thwarted me , even altered my instructions ” . Rawlinson noted in his diary that Murray became “ a cipher at GHQ ” ( 28 Nov 1914 ) , was disliked by his subordinates ( 4 December ) and that Sir John French often ignored his staff “ chiefly because Murray is incapable of managing them and getting any good work out of them ” ( 6 Dec 1914 ) . Edmonds later claimed that Murray sometimes falsified the timing of orders , but he was given away by the time stamp which the duty clerk placed on them . At the end of November and again in mid - December French told Wilson he was thinking of moving Murray to a corps command . Asquith and Kitchener ( 20 December ) forbade French to replace Murray with Wilson . Wilson claimed to have heard Joffre , on a visit to GHQ ( 27 December ) , complain that it was “ a pity ” that Murray had not been removed . Murray was sent off sick for a month ( 24 January 1915 ) and French demanded his resignation ( 25 January 1915 ) , despite Murray insisting that he only needed to take a few days off . Wilson was widely suspected of having plotted for Murray ' s removal in the vain hope of replacing him , but the job went to Robertson . Although a sore throat prevented him seeing Murray off , French wrote to him ( 29 January ) saying he hoped to see him back as an army commander before long . Haig wrote ( diary 26 January ) that “ Murray was a kindly fellow but not a practical man in the field ” . A staff officer , Brigadier - General Philip Howell , wrote to his wife ( 27 Feb 1915 ) that Murray had been “ incompetent , cantankerous , timid & quite useless ” . Chief of the Imperial General Staff . He was made Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff on 10 February 1915 and was appointed KCMG on 18 February 1915 . He became Chief of the Imperial General Staff on 26 September 1915 . He was promoted to permanent lieutenant general on 28 October 1915 . However H . H . Asquith , the prime minister , was unable to achieve any consensus within his cabinet on strategy and sought changes in senior military positions . Haig , about to be appointed Commander - in - Chief of the BEF ( 3 December 1915 ) , rejected Kitchener ’ s suggestion that Murray be reappointed as Chief of Staff BEF ( the job which Sir William Robertson was vacating to become CIGS ) . Murray was forced out as CIGS on 23 December 1915 and replaced by Robertson , a strong advocate of the single ( Western ) front strategy . Egyptian Command . 1916 . In January 1916 , Murray was given command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force . Murray wrote to Robertson ( 18 March 1916 ) that the Australians were “ from a physical point of view a magnificent body of men ” but had “ no idea of ordinary decency or self control ” . Britain had 300 , 000 men in Egypt , many of them ANZACs or Gallipoli evacuees , supposedly to guard against a Turkish attack across the Sinai , which Robertson thought logistically unlikely . By July 1916 , on Robertson ’ s orders , Murray had shipped out 240 , 000 of them , including 9 infantry divisions , 3 independent infantry brigades and 9 heavy artillery batteries , most of them going to France , leaving him with 4 Territorial divisions and some mounted troops . Trying to prevent another Turkish attack against the Suez Canal , Murray reorganized his troops and led a counterattack , which captured most of the Sinai Peninsula , but was thwarted in Palestine . 1917 . Lloyd George wanted to make the destruction of Turkey a major British war aim , and two days after becoming Prime Minister told Robertson that he wanted a major victory , preferably the capture of Jerusalem , to impress British public opinion . Robertson thought the capture of Beersheba should suffice as more divisions were needed in France . However , Robertson was not entirely hostile to efforts in Palestine , telling Murray ( 31 January 1917 ) he wanted him to launch a Palestine Offensive in autumn and winter 1917 , if the war was still going on then . The object was to sustain public morale and , with a compromise peace leaving Germany in control of the Balkans increasingly possible , to capture Aleppo . Aleppo was more easily reached from Palestine than from Mesopotamia , and her capture would make untenable Turkey ’ s hold on both regions . At this stage Russia was still pinning down many Turkish troops , although the Admiralty were not enthused about suggestions that the Royal Navy make amphibious landings in Palestine . It was agreed to build up Murray ’ s forces to 6 infantry divisions and 2 mounted divisions by the autumn , as well 16 Imperial Camel Companies and possibly some Indian cavalry from France . Murray was advanced to GCMG on 20 January 1917 . It was Murray who authorized T . E . Lawrence ' s expedition to join the Arab Revolt against the Turks in Arabia , providing monetary and limited military support for Lawrence ' s attack on Aqaba : initially skeptical of the Revolt ' s potential , Murray became an ardent supporter of it later in his tenure in Cairo , largely through Lawrence ' s persuasion . By early 1917 the Turks had also withdrawn from Persia and had pulled back from Medina , which was besieged by the Arabs . In March 1917 at the First Battle of Gaza a British force under Murray ' s command comprising 52nd ( Lowland ) Division reinforced by an infantry brigade from Eastern Force attacked Gaza . While the Imperial Mounted Division held off the Turkish reinforcements , the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division ( Anzac Mounted Division ) reinforced the infantry attack and together , they succeeded in entering Gaza from the north and capturing the adjoining hill of Ali Muntar . However the determination of the Turkish defenders and the threat from large Turkish reinforcements approaching from the north and north east ultimately led to decision to withdraw . At the Second Battle of Gaza in April 1917 Murray assembled a larger force comprising the 52nd ( Lowland ) Division , 53rd ( Welsh ) Division , the 54th ( East Anglian ) Division and the recently formed 74th ( Yeomanry ) Division which was made up of brigades of dismounted yeomanry serving as infantry . However the six British tanks , the British heavy guns and naval gunfire from the French coastal defence ship " Requin " and two British monitors ( " M21 " and " M31 " ) did little damage and only served to warn the Turks of the imminent British attack which faltered at all points . Again Murray decided to withdraw . The Second Battle of Gaza coincided with the failure of the Nivelle Offensive , reports of unrest among Russian troops after the February Revolution and an escalation of the U - Boat War ( it was thought that loss of shipping might make Egypt untenable ) causing Robertson to prefer a return to a defensive policy in the Middle East , although this was not Lloyd George ' s view . Despite laying the plans for the ultimate defeat of the Turks , Murray was relieved of command and replaced by Edmund Allenby on 29 June 1917 . Murray was mentioned in despatches again on 3 November 1917 . After Egypt . Murray was reassigned , becoming General Officer Commanding - in - Chief for Aldershot Command in October 1917 and having been promoted to full general on 25 August 1919 , remained in post until 15 November 1919 . After retiring from the British Army on 15 November 1922 , he was advanced to GCB in the New Year Honours 1928 . He was also colonel of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers from 22 August 1911 . Murray died at his home " Makepeace " at Reigate in Surrey on 21 January 1945 . Family . In 1890 he married Caroline Helen Sweet ; they had one son . Following the death of his first wife he married Mildred Georgina Dooner in 1912 . In Popular Culture . In the film " Lawrence of Arabia " Murray is portrayed by Donald Wolfit . In a brief appearance he dismisses the Arab revolt as " a sideshow of a sideshow " and protests that in Egypt he is being expected to " fight a bloody war without bloody artillery " . After the fall of Aqaba Lawrence remarks that the replacement of Murray by Allenby is " a step in the right direction " . External links . Despatches of General Murray Other < br >