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Canon Gerry Murphy LVO
Late Irish Guards
by Colonel J A Aylmer DL
formerly Irish Guards
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 Gerry (Gervace) Murphy was born in Bangor Co Down in 1926. He was educated at the Methodist College in Belfast until 1944. Despite a feeling that his eventual calling was for the Church he wanted to serve his country in war.
He joined the Irish Guards because he liked their recruiting poster and friends told him they were the best Irish regiment. He joined as a Recruit in No 5 Company then in Fox Lines at Caterham. Like us all, he found recruit training tough - he told me later he quickly found the method of survival was to keep on good terms with the Trained Soldier. He passed out of the Depot and went on to complete his training at the Training Battalion at Lingfield to which it had recently returned after its banishment to Edinburgh for the D-Day period.
As VE Day got nearer drafts from the Training Battalion, (3rd Battalion Irish Guards) lessened and Gerry was persuaded to apply for a commission. He went for officer training at Alton Towers. He was commissioned into the Royal Ulster Rifles serving with them until he was demobbed. He then went up to Trinity College Dublin in 1947 to study for Holy Orders. Upon ordination he was appointed Curate at Lurgan, Co Amagh from 1950-55. It was while at Trinity and in his curacy that his rugby skill came to the front. He often played for Trinity and in 1952 was selected as full back for Ireland and played in every international match that year.
In 1955, he moved to England to join the Royal Army Chaplains Department and was posted to post war Korea. This limited his rugger playing but he continued to play, when he could, for the Army, the London Irish and the Barbarians.
Gerry was an ideal army chaplain with his great charm of manner and he was as happy talking to a recruit as he was to a general. In 1966 he was chaplain at Pirbright while 1st Battalion Irish Guards were stationed there before their tour in Aden. He ministered to the rear party and welcomed the Battalion home the next year. Later he was Senior Chaplain at Sandhurst and subsequently Assistant Chaplain General of the Rhine Army.
He retired from the Army in 1977 and was called to be Rector of Sandringham where he became a master of the seven-minute sermon - a Royal requirement. He was made LVO in 1987. When his time at Sandringham ended he asked to go to the Falkland Isles as Vicar of the Cathedral at Port Stanley and again had contact with British Forces. He later became Chaplain of the Tower of London and was Chaplain to the Lord Mayor. After this he retired to Norfolk where he assisted in several parishes. He also found time in his 70s to take a classics degree at Birkbeck College. He continued to be an extra Chaplain to Her Majesty till his death in 2014.
Gerry never lost touch with the Regiment, frequently attending London Branch Dinners. He preached at the Regiment’s Centenary service in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. He was a man of great faith and had the gift of being able to communicate it to others. Our sympathy goes out to his wife Joy and their daughters.
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