of the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours in 1876, and a full member in 1880; an associate of the Royal Academy in 1885, and an academician in 1893; and at Paris, in 1887, Where he exhibited “The Newhaven Packet” and “The Clearness after Rain,” he received a grand prix and was made a knight of the Legion of Honour. He died at Margate on the 22nd of June 1895. His works are marked by admirable appreciation of nature, and by a rare understanding of wave-form and colour and of the subtleties of atmospheric effect; and as a sea-painter he may fairly be regarded as almost without a rival.
MOORE, JOHN (1729–1802), Scottish physician and writer, was born at Stirling in 1729, the son of a clergyman. After taking his medical degree at Glasgow, he served with the army
in Flanders, then proceeded to London to continue his studies, and eventually to Paris, where he was attached to the household
of the British ambassador. His novel Zeluco (1789), a close
analysis of the motives of a selfish profligate, produced a great
impression at the time, and indirectly, through the poetry of
Byron, has left an abiding mark on literature. Byron said
that he intended Childe Harold to be “a poetical Zeluco,” and
the most striking features of the portrait were undoubtedly
taken from that character. Moore’s other works have a less
marked individuality, but his sketches of society and manners
in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and England furnish
valuable materials for the social historian. In 1792 he accompanied
Lord Lauderdale to Paris, and witnessed some of the
principal scenes of the Revolution. His Journal during a Residence
in France (1793) is the careful record of an eye-witness,
and is frequently referred to by Carlyle. He died in London
on the 21st of January 1802, leaving five sons, the eldest of
whom was General Sir John Moore. James Moore (1763–1834),
who wrote Sir John’s Life, was also the author of some important
medical works, and Sir Graham Moore (1764–1843), saw much
active naval service and became an admiral.
MOORE, SIR JOHN (1761–1809), British general, the son of John Moore, was born at Glasgow on the 13th of November
1761. From his early years he intended to become a soldier,
learned the Prussian firing exercise, and was “always operating
in the field and showing how Geneva could be taken.” By the
duke of Hamilton’s influence he obtained an ensigncy in the 51st
foot (1776), learned his drill at Minorca, and in 1778 was appointed
captain-lieutenant in a new regiment raised by Hamilton
for service in the American War. Moore remained in America
to the peace of 1783, after which the Hamilton regiment was
disbanded. In 1784 he was returned by the Hamilton interest
as member of parliament for the united boroughs of Lanark,
Selkirk, Peebles and Linlithgow. In parliament, though he
never spoke, he seems to have taken his duties very seriously,
and to have preserved an independent position, in which he won
the friendship of Pitt and the respect of Burke, and (more
important still) the friendship of the duke of York. In 1787
he became major in the 60th (now King’s Royal Rifles), but
in the following year he was transferred to his old corps, the
51st. In 1792 Moore sailed with his corps to the Mediterranean.
He was too late to assist at Toulon, but was engaged throughout
the operations in Corsica, and won particular distinction at
the taking of Calvi, where he was wounded. Soon after this
he became adjutant-general to Sir Charles Stuart, with whom
he formed a close friendship. After the expulsion of the French
Moore became very intimate with many of the leading Corsican
patriots, which intimacy was so obnoxious to Sir Gilbert Elliot
(later Lord Minto) that Moore was eventually ordered to leave
the island in forty-eight hours, though Elliot wrote in warm
terms of his ability. Pitt and the duke of York thought still
more highly of Colonel Moore, who was soon sent out to the
West Indies in the local rank of brigadier-general. Here he
came under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby, whose most
valued adviser and subordinate Moore soon became.
In the Santa Lucia expedition he won further distinction by
his conduct at the capture of the Vigie and Morne Fortuné,
and when Sir Ralph left the island he appointed Moore governor
and military commander. In 1798 he accompanied Abercromby
to Ireland as a major-general, and during the rebellion was
actively engaged in command of a corps in the south, defeating
a large force of the Irish, and saving Wexford from destruction
after the battle of Vinegar Hill (June 21). His services were in
universal request, and Abercromby had him appointed to the
command of a brigade destined for the expedition to Holland.
At the action of Egmont-op-Zee, on the 2nd of October 1799,
his brigade lost very heavily, and he himself was wounded for
the fourth time, on this occasion severely. On his return from
Holland he was made colonel of the 52nd regiment, with which
he was connected for the rest of his career, and which under his
supervision became one of the finest regiments in Europe.
Throughout the Egyptian expedition he commanded the reserve. The 28th and 42nd regiments in this corps gained great distinction at the battle of, Alexandria, where Moore himself was again wounded. He returned to duty, however, before the surrender of the French forces to General Hutchinson, and added so much to his reputation by his conduct in this brilliant campaign that after the short peace came to an end he was appointed to command the force assembled at Shorncliffe camp (1803) as a part of the army intended to meet the projected invasion of Napoleon. Here were trained some of the best regiments of the service, amongst others the 43rd, 52nd and 95th Rifles, the regiments which afterwards formed the famous “Light Division” and won in the Peninsula an unsurpassed reputation, not only for the skilful performance of the duties of light troops, but also for invincible steadiness in the line of battle. These corps (now represented in the army by the 1st and 2nd battalions of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry and the Rifle Brigade) bore the impress of Moore’s training for thirty years and more, and as early as 1804, on account of the “superior state” of the 52nd, the king granted the officers exceptional promotion (August 29, 1804). The system of light infantry tactics taught at Shorncliffe was not invented by Moore; but he had always advocated the creation of these troops, and he supervised the training which produced such great results. While at Shorncliffe he renewed his intimacy with Pitt, who was then residing at Walmer Castle, and his close friendship with Lady Hester Stanhope led to the erroneous belief that he was betrothed to her. On his return to office Pitt caused Moore to be made a Knight of the Bath, and about the same time came his promotion to the rank of lieutenant-general. Fox, when he succeeded to office, showed the same appreciation of Moore, and in 1806 sent him to the Mediterranean as second-in-command to his brother, General H. E. Fox. In the various minor expeditions of the time Moore had a share, at first as a subordinate, but soon, when Fox went home on account of ill-health, as commander-in-chief of the British army employed in the Mediterranean. About this time he formed an attachment for Caroline Fox (afterwards the wife of Sir William Napier), to whom, however, he did not offer marriage, fearing to “influence her,” by his high position and intimacy with her father, “to an irretrievable error for her own future contentment” (Life of Sir C. Napier, i. 39). In 1808 Moore was ordered to the Baltic, to assist Gustavus IV., king of Sweden, against Russia, France and Denmark. The conduct of the king, who went so far as to place Sir John Moore under arrest when he refused to acquiesce in his plans, ruined any chance of successful co-operation, and the English general returned home, making his escape in disguise. He was at once ordered to proceed with his division to Portugal, where he was to be under the command of Sir Hew Dalrymple and Sir Harry Burrard. To Moore, as a general of European reputation, who had held a chief command, the appointment of two senior officers to be over him appeared as a bitter insult, though his resentment did not divert him from his duty. He met his reward, for when, in the excitement caused by the convention of Cintra, Dalrymple and Burrard were ordered home, Moore was left in command of the largest British army that had been employed since the commencement of the war. Wellesley, who returned home with the other generals, showed his appreciation of Moore, and in an interesting letter (Wellington Despatches, Oct. 8, 1808) expressed his desire to use his own
