Born at Braelangwell, Cromarty, Scotland,[REF] Urquhart was educated, under the supervision of his widowed mother, in France, Switzerland, and Spain.
In 1854 Urquhart married Harriet Angelina Fortescue,[REF] an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, and the couple had three sons (one of whom, William, died aged only thirteen months; Francis Fortescue Urquhart was another), and two daughters.