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SIR
JOHN
MOORE was the son of Dr. John Moore, a medical practitioner in Glasgow,
who was famous as a novelist in his day, and one of the most esteemed
literary correspondents of the poet Burns. His mother was a daughter of
the Rev. Professor John Simson of Glasgow University, and his paternal
grandmother was a daughter of the famous provost, John Anderson, whose
name occurs as Provost of Glasgow during several terms of office towards
the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries.
The future military hero was born on
the 13th November, 1761, in Donald’s Land, north side of the Trongate, a
little to the east of the Candleriggs. He attended the Grammar School in
Greyfriars Wynd, was appointed an ensign at the early age of fifteen, and
along with his father, Dr. Moore, who became tutor to the young Duke of
Hamilton, he made the tour of Europe. The duchess— Elizabeth Gunning,
famed for her beauty—took quite a fancy for the handsome young ensign, and
specially desired him to go as companion to her son.
In four years after his return he
was made captain and paymaster to the 82nd regiment, and as he considered
himself deficient in accounts, he obtained leave of absence, came to
Glasgow, and worked for some time as an amateur clerk in the
counting-house of a friend, in order that he might make good his
deficiency, and be able to discharge his financial duties properly. His
brilliant career, and glorious death in the arms of victory at Corunna,
January 16th, 1809, are matters of history.
The news of the death of Sir John
Moore deeply affected the whole nation, and in a special degree his native
city. The people of Glasgow, who were justly proud of him, had followed
his patriotic and heroic progress with the greatest interest. As a token
of their deep regret for his loss, and to erect a suitable memorial in his
honour, a sum amounting to upwards of £4000 was raised in Glasgow by
subscription.
His monumental statue was the first
erected in the local open-air Pantheon, as George Square has become. The
monumental statue of Burns (his father’s correspondent) stands a little
way to the right and behind; while that of Lord Clyde, who formed one of
the burial party, whose work has been immortalised in the famous
Elegy, stands in line, as a
fitting companion, to the left. The Glasgow Herald,
of 20th August, 1819, contained the
following account of— "SIR JOHN MOORE’S MONUMENT.
"On Monday, the workmen finished the
erection in George Square of the monument of Lieutenant-General Sir John
Moore, K.B., on which is the following inscription
:—
TO COMMEMORATE
THE MILITARY SERVICES OF
LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR JOHN MOORE, K.B.,
NATIVE OF GLASGOW,
HIS FELLOW-CITIZENS HAVE ERECTED
THIS MONUMENT.
1819.
"It consists of a full-length bronze
statue of the hero, about eight and a half feet high, dressed in military
costume, having a cloak thrown round, the left hand leaning on the sword,
and the right placed in easy
position across the breast. It is supported by a pedestal of Aberdeen
granite, about ten feet high. The
statue is chiefly made from brass cannons. The whole cost is between three
and four thousand pounds. The weight of the statue is upwards of three
tons, and that of the pedestal ten. The whole confers the utmost credit on
the taste and execution of Flaxman the artist. The monument has a grand
appearance, and is placed on the south side of the square fronting Miller
Street."
To this it may be added that,
standing by the monument and looking south, down Miller Street, across
Argyle Street, and down Dunlop Street, the scene of the hero’s early years
may be seen, where he played and sported as a boy, but of course very much
changed in its aspect and surroundings. By order of Parliament another
monument was erected to Moore’s memory in St. Paul’s Cathedral, and
Marshal Soult also raised one over his grave in the citadel of Corunna. |
