Constituency : Inverness 1922-50 ( from 1931 Liberal National )
Sir Murdoch took over at Inverness following the resignation of Thomas Morrison. He defeated an Asquithian challenger by 316 votes.
Murdoch was educated at the Farriline Park Institution in Inverness. He began an engineering apprenticeship with the Highland Railway Company. He worked on various railway projects in Scotland before being invited to Egypt in 1898. He stayed there for 23 years and worked on the Aswan Dam. He became a senior civil servant there and helped organise the defence of the Suez Canal in World War One.. He later set up a partnership to handle his work in Egypt.He was knighted in 1914.
In the 1922 election, Murdoch defeated the same opponent with a larger majority. In 1923, 1924 and 1929, he had straight fights with Labour and won comfortably on each occasion.
In 1931 and 1935 he won easily in three cornered contests with Labour and the SNP.
In 1932 Murdoch was elected president of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Murdoch joined the Liberal Nationals in 1931. Although he was supposed to have cut his ties with them in 1942 he still stood under their colours in 1945 when he became the oldest MP in the House defeating Labour and Liberal challengers.
Murdoch stood down in 1950. He twice visited Egypt in the fifties in connection with new civil works on the Nile.
Murdoch genuinely believed he had seen the Loch Ness monster and campaigned to protect it..
He died in 1957 aged 90.
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