Lance Corporal Bernard Alexander Johnson Blackburn Murdie
The North Irish Horseman shown on the records as B. Murdie was probably Bernard Alexander Johnson Blackburn Murdie, born on 29 July 1895 at 13 Brookland Street, Belfast, the only child of commission agent and journalist Alexander Murdie and his wife Laura Charlotte (nee Blackburn). By 1911 he was living at 30 Roe Street, Belfast, with his maternal grandmother and two aunts.
Murdie enlisted in the North Irish Horse on 20 January 1915 (No.1413 - later Corps of Hussars No.71378).
In the first half of 1915 he embarked for England with F Squadron, where they awaited orders for France. On 12 July, however, Murdie was one of about two dozen men of the squadron who volunteered for service as Military Mounted Police with the 54th (East Anglian) Division, which was under orders to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. They sailed from Devonport on HMT Manitou on 29 July 1915, joining the landing at Suvla Bay between 10 and 16 August.
At the end of the year the campaign at Gallipoli was abandoned, the men of the North Irish Horse leaving in December. They arrived in Egypt the following month, where a number of them, including Murdie, remained for the duration of the war.
Murdie continued with the Military Mounted Police. He formally transferred to that regiment in June 1918 (No. P/14886) – with effect from 30 August 1917.