MOORE, SIR JOHN (1761-1809), British general, the son of John Moore, was born at Glasgow on Nov. 13, 1761. 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 ap pointed 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 6oth (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 subor dinate Moore soon became. In the Santa Lucia expedition he won further distinction by his conduct at the capture of La Vigie and Morne Fortune, and when Sir Ralph left the island he appointed Moore governor and military commander. In 1798 he accom
panied 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 expedi tion 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 he made one of the finest regiments in Europe.
Throughout the Egyptian expedition he commanded the re serve. 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 sur render of the French forces to General Hutchinson, and added so much to his reputation by his conduct in this brilliant cam paign 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 regi ments 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 repre sented in the army by the I st and 2nd battalions of the Oxford shire Light Infantry and the Rifle Brigade) bore the impress of IVIoore's training for thirty years and more, and as early as on account of the "superior state" of the 52nd, the king granted the officers exceptional promotion (August 29, 1804).