Arthur Moore (Royal Navy officer)

Admiral Sir Arthur William Moore, GCB, GCVO, CMG (30 July 1847 – 3 April 1934) was a Royal Navy officer who became both Commander-in-Chief, China and Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth.

Sir Arthur Moore
Sir Arthur Moore
Born30 July 1847
Frittenden, Kent, England
Died3 April 1934 (1934-04-04) (aged 86)
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
RankAdmiral
Commands heldHMS Invincible
HMS Orion
HMS Dreadnought
HMS Britannia
Cape of Good Hope Station
China Station
Portsmouth Command
Battles/warsSecond Boer War
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George

Early life

Moore was born in 1847 in Frittenden, Kent, the son of the Rev. Edward Moore, rector of the parish, by his marriage to Lady Harriet Montagu-Scott (1814–1870), a daughter of the fourth Duke of Buccleuch.[1] His father was an Honorary Canon of Canterbury, and his great-grandfather was John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury.[2]

Military career

Moore joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1860, at the age of thirteen.[3][4]

In 1881 he was given command of the battleship HMS Invincible in the Mediterranean Fleet and in 1882 he commanded the corvette HMS Orion in the Anglo-Egyptian War.[4] He was present at the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir.[4] In 1884 he was appointed Flag Captain to the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies.[4]

He later took command of the battleship HMS Dreadnought in the Mediterranean Fleet before becoming Commandant of HMS Britannia at Dartmouth.[4]

In 1889 Moore was sent as a British representative to the Anti-Slavery Congress held in Brussels. In 1890-1891 he was a member of the Australian Defence Committee.[3]

He was made Junior Naval Lord at the Admiralty in 1898, and Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station in early 1901,[4] leaving the UK for Cape in March 1901 on board his flagship HMS Gibraltar.[5] In this capacity he took part in the closing phases of the Second Boer War.[4] Following the end of the war in June 1902, he toured the East Coast of Africa, visiting Zanzibar with seven Royal Navy ships for a show of force following the death of the sultan and the accession of his son in July 1902,[6] and Kenya in August.[7]

In 1905 he became Second in Command in the Channel Fleet and in 1906 he was made Commander-in-Chief, China.[8] His last appointment was as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth from 1911; he retired in 1912.[4]

When he died in 1934, Moore was buried with other members of his family at St Mary's Church, Frittenden, near the west end of the church.

Honours and awards

Further reading
  • E. Marjorie Moore, Adventure in the Royal Navy: the life and letters of Admiral Sir Arthur Edward Moore (1964)

References
  1. Rear-Admiral Sir Arthur William Moore at thepeerage.com, accessed 18 October 2011
  2. "Admiral Sir Arthur Moore Long Service And High Commands". News. The Times. No. 46724. London. 10 April 1934. col A, p. 9.
  3. Arnold Wright, ed. H. A. Cartwright, Twentieth century impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other treaty ports, vol. 1 (Lloyds Greater Britain publishing company, 1908), p. 273: "ADMIRAL SIR ARTHUR WILLIAM MOORE, KCB, KCVO, CMG, until recently Commander-in-Chief of the China station, was born on July 30, 1847, and entered the Navy at the age of thirteen. He served in the Egyptian War of 1882, and attained the rank of Captain two years later..."
  4. Anglo-Boer War Archived 10 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36406. London. 19 March 1901. p. 8.
  6. "Zanzibar". The Times. No. 36825. London. 21 July 1902. p. 5.
  7. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36845. London. 13 August 1902. p. 8.
  8. The British Fleets The Star, 24 October 1905
  9. "No. 26238". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1892. p. 3568.
  10. "No. 26867". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 June 1897. p. 3568.
  11. "No. 27826". The London Gazette. 11 August 1905. p. 5532.
  12. "No. 27883". The London Gazette. 6 February 1906. p. 869.
  13. "No. 28505". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 June 1911. p. 44588.
  14. "No. 28510". The London Gazette. 4 July 1911. p. 4928.
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