Michael Francis Murphy was born in Castletownbere, County Cork, Ireland in 1890. He trained at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin and, as a medical officer with the King's African Rifles during World War I, he took part in the campaign against von Lettow-Vorbeck's German forces in East Africa. This ended on 25 November 1918 after news of the Armistice was received.

Murphy travelled to Kenya and volunteered for a twelve month tour in the East African Medical Service to assist in the rehabilitation of medical services following the war. In December 1919 he volunteered to serve as a medical officer in the Somaliland Field Force which was despatched to subdue the Dervish resistance movement under Mohammed bin Abdullah Hassan, known as the 'Mad Mullah'.

After leaving military service Murphy worked as a General Practitioner in Reading. He died in 1954.