Brigadier Sir John Spencer Muirhead, DSO, MC, TD, DL (19 April 1889 – 17 February 1972) was a Scottish solicitor, academic, and Territorial Army officer in both World Wars.
He studied Literae Humaniores at Oriel College, Oxford, and graduated with a double first Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1912.
By the end of the war he was an acting Major, had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross, and had been Mentioned in dispatches three times.
[5][3][6] When the TA was rapidly expanded at the time of the Munich Crisis in 1938, Muirhead raised and commanded the new 74th (City of Glasgow) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery.
[2][3][6][9] The TA was mobilised shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, when 74th HAA Regiment formed part of 42nd Anti-Aircraft Brigade defending Glasgow.
The Official History records that the AA artillery in Tobruk was 'incessantly in action against attacks of all kinds, from all heights, but especially by dive-bombers', and that Muirhead and his predecessor were 'responsible for the spirited and successful anti-aircraft defence throughout the siege'.
[15] Under Muirhead's command in the last two months of the siege, troops of HAA guns took it in turn to move out to the perimeter and take on ground targets with long-range harassing fire to make up for the shortage of medium artillery.
[3][6] Muirhead completed his legal studies after World War I and began to practise as a solicitor, becoming lecturer in Roman Law at Glasgow University from 1920 to 1954.
[20] In the 1953 Coronation Honours List, he was appointed a Knight Bachelor in recognition of his time as President of the Law Society of Scotland, and therefore granted the title sir.