General Sir John Murray, 8th Baronet, (c. 1768 – 15 October 1827) was a British Army officer who led a brigade under Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, in the Peninsular War. Later in the war, he commanded an independent force that operated on the east coast of Spain. Early career Murray served as Quartermaster General in India from 1801 to 1805. There, "his alternations of torpor and feverish activity had greatly embarrassed the young Arthur Wellesley with whom he was supposed to be cooperating." He married Anne Elizabeth Cholmley Phipps on 25 August 1807. Peninsula During the Second Battle of Porto in 1809, Major General Murray commanded the 7th Brigade, the largest brigade in Wellington's army. This 2,900-strong unit included the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 7th King's German Legion (KGL) Infantry battalions, plus elements of the 1st and 2nd KGL Light Infantry. After giving Murray two additional cavalry squadrons, Wellington entrusted him with the task of crossing the Douro River and cutting off the escape route of Marshal Nicolas Soult's French corps. Accordingly, Murray crossed the Douro at a ferry east of Porto and moved north. However, he failed to seriously contest the French retreat to the northeast. Instead, he skirmished ineffectually with the enemy. Michael Glover, historian of the Peninsular War, calls Murray "a stupid and irresolute officer." He soon left Portugal because he feared he would have to serve under William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, who was a marshal of the Portuguese Army. Beresford was junior to Murray in British rank, but as a marshal would outrank him in the field. He became 8th Baronet of Dunerne in 1811. On 31July 1812, an 8,000-man Anglo-Sicilian force under Thomas Maitland landed at Alicante on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. It then went through a succession of commanders until February 1813, when Murray, now a lieutenant-general, took command. By this time, the force was 10,000 men strong. Of these, 3,000 were Sicilians and Italians, while the rest were British and KGL troops. Two Spanish divisions, 8,000 men, also came under his orders. With his 18,200-man army, Murray defeated Marshal Louis Suchet at the Battle of Castalla on 13April 1813. Though Suchet's 13,200 were considerably outnumbered and the battle was largely won by the steadiness of the British and Spanish infantry, Castalla was undoubtedly Murray's finest hour. But he did not pursue the beaten French, continuing his withdrawal to the