Patrick John Murdoch

Murdoch was born in Scotland on 10 June 1850 at the Free Church manse in Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire.

[1] He studied at the University of Aberdeen graduating MA in 1870 and then studied divinity at New College, Edinburgh and was licensed to preach by the Free Church of Scotland in September 1876.

During the Ronald v. Harper slander and libel case in 1909, he refused to produce a letter which was in the presbytery's possession, and spent a night in gaol for contempt of court.

[3] William Gray Dixon suggested some 20 years later that this incident demonstrated how the Presbyterian Church of Australia "maintains her traditional spirit of independence".

In June 1882 he married Annie Brown (1856–1945) at Longhaven House in Cruden near Aberdeen.