12/06/2026
📍Road name series: Moore Street
Moore Street takes its name from Lieutenant-General John Moore, a remarkable military figure with a fascinating life story.
Born in 1761 to Jean and John Moore, he was their eldest surviving son. He started out at Glasgow High School, but at just 11 years old, he set off on a Grand Tour of Europe alongside his father and the 8th Duke of Hamilton, travelling through France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.
By 15, he had already enlisted in the army as an Ensign in the 51st Regiment of Foot, and by 17 he was seeing real combat as a Lieutenant during the American War of Independence.
He climbed the ranks steadily, reaching Major in 1787 and Colonel in 1791.
By 1798 he had risen to Major-General and was involved in the suppression of the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Described as "the most violent and tragic event in Irish history between the Jacobite wars and the Great Famine". It was a conflict that claimed the lives of 30,000 Irish men, women and children. At the Battle of Foulksmills, Moore led 2,000 Crown troops to victory against a United Irishmen force of 3,000, and is credited with turning the tide of that battle.
He was also a forward thinker when it came to military strategy. From 1803, he commanded army training in south-east England, where he established the British Army's first permanent light infantry regiments. He played a leading role in organising the defence of the Kent Coast against a potential Napoleonic invasion, drove the introduction of Martello towers to Britain, oversaw construction of the Royal Military Canal as a defensive line, and recruited around 340,000 militia volunteers ready to hold the lines if the army's defences were breached.
In 1808, Sir John Moore took command of British forces in Spain and Portugal. Faced with a Napoleonic army of 200,000 and the collapse of Spanish resistance, he made the critical decision to retreat to the embarkation points of La Coruña and Vigo.
The Battle of Corunna is regarded as a victory for Moore's forces, buying enough time for the British army to evacuate in good order. Moore himself was fatally struck by a cannonball, but lived just long enough to hear that the French had been driven back. He was buried at La Coruña, wrapped in his military cloak.
Irish poet Charles Wolfe captured the moment:
"Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
As his co**se to the rampart we hurried;
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot
O'er the grave where our hero we buried…
Slowly and sadly we laid him down,
From the field of his fame fresh and gory;
We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone,
But we left him alone with his glory."
