Born in Dublin, 1824.
Enlisted at Edinburgh on the 12th of April 1842.
Age: 18.
Height: 5' 8".
Trade: None shown.
From Private to Corporal, on 1st of June 1847.
Reduced to Private by a Regimental Court-martial on the 30th of August 1848.
[RM: He is mentioned in Morley's memoir The Cause of the Charge at Balaclava (1899) as being one of the letter party to Lord Raglan at Varna.]
I served under Lord Cardigan at Devna and Yenebazaar at the time when disease prevailed to a great extent. During the time I had the honour to be selected as Corporal of a letter party stationed at Varna. The whole of the dispatches of the army were at times conveyed by this party, and I was compelled in consequence of the sickness of the men to ride day and night without any rest to set a good example to the men under my charge and keep out of their minds that too much fatigue would kill them.
Allow me to add that this was Lord Raglan's letter party and that I continually reported at his headquarters to receive the dispatches. The party consisted of myself, and Privates Wm. Purvis, P. Murphy, Burkemore [Berkleman], and H. Gallimore. All these went into hospital with cholera and Gallimore died. Wm. Purvis is still living at 105, Rutter Street, Walsall.
From Private to Corporal: 17th of February 1855.
Tried by a District Court-martial on the 23rd of April 1856 for "being drunk at stables" and reduced to Pte.
Sentenced to 24 hours in the Black Hole at Cavan [PB: what does this refer to?] , on the 7th of May 1857.
Embarked for India from Cork aboard the S.S. "Great Britain" on the 8th of October 1857.
The musters for July-September 1858 show him as being "On Detachment at Sholapoore" during the whole of the period.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal.
Can find no trace on the Mutiny medal roll.
The Returned Medal Book states "Crimean and Mutiny medals returned to the Mint. No trace of issue."
Died at Sholapore, India, on the 9th of October 1858.
He is mentioned in the "Memoirs" of 1004 Thomas Morley as "being under his command as one of a Letter Party to Lord Lucan at one period in the Crimea. He also said that Murphy went into hospital with cholera, but recovered..."
The Regimental "Casualty Returns" for the period show him as having been born in Dublin and a shoe-maker by trade. He left no will, his "credits" being £2/6/9d. A brother, Thomas Murphy, living in Calcutta, India, was shown as his next of kin.