James Newton Rodney Moore GCMG KCB (1905)

Born 1905 in Bunbury, Western Australia, Australia

Ancestors

Husband of Olive Marion Bilbe (Robinson) Southby — married 1927 in St George Hanover Square, London, England

Biography

Rodney Moore GCMG KCB is Notable.

General Sir (James Newton) Rodney Moore GCMG KCB CBE DSO was a senior British Army officer who fought in the Second World War, second Malayan Chief of Staff (now known as Chief of Defence Forces) and later was General Officer Commanding (GOC) London District. After retiring from the military, he was appointed Gentleman Usher to the Royal Household and Chief Steward of Hampton Court Palace.

James Newton Rodney Moore was born in 1905 at Bunbury, Western Australia, Australia. Rodney, the name by which he was known was the only son of Major General Sir Newton Moore and Lady Moore, formerly Isabella Lowrie.^[1]

Rodney Moore GCMG KCB migrated from Australia to England.

Having been Premier of Western Australia from 1906 to 1910, Cora's father (then Sir Newton Moore) was appointed Agent-General for Western Australia in London. Little did the family know that when they relocated to Great Britain in 1911 it was to become a permanent migration. Sir Newton would command the Australian Imperial Forces based in the United Kingdom during the First World War and be elected to the House of Commons from 1918 to 1932. Rodney was educated at Harrow School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After graduating from the latter, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards on 29th January 1925.^[2]

He married Olive Robinson in 1927 at St George Hanover Square, London.^[3] They were divorced before 1947.

During the Second World War, from 1942 to 1944, Moore was a General Staff Officer (GSO) with the Guards Armoured Division. He was then Commanding Officer (CO) of the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, in North-West Europe. In 1945, on promotion to Brigadier, he became CO of the 8th Infantry Brigade in Germany and Palestine.

From 1946 to 1947 he was CO of the 1st Guards Brigade, also in Palestine, during the Palestine Emergency.

Returning to the United Kingdom in 1948, Moore was Chief of Staff of London District until 1950, and then attended the Imperial Defence College. From 1951 to 1953 he was Deputy Adjutant-General, British Army of the Rhine, Germany. Moore than undertook his first NATO posting, as Chief of Staff Allied Forces Northern Europe. Returning to the Middle East in 1955, Moore was General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1st Division. He was then transferred, in the same year, to command the 10th Armoured Division. Returning to London in 1957, he assumed the post of Major-General commanding the Household Brigade and London District.

Another overseas posting in 1959 saw him serving as Chief of Armed Forces Staff (now known as Chief of Defence Forces), Malaya and Director of Border Operations, Malaya.^[4] For his service in this role, Moore was appointed an honorary Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm by the Malayan Government in 1961.^[5] His last active appointment was as the first Defence Services Secretary at the Ministry of Defence in London. From 1965 to 1966 he was Aide-de-Camp General to Her Majesty The Queen.^[6] He retired in 1966.^[7]

Moore spent his last years as Gentleman Usher to the Royal Household^[8] and Chief Steward of Hampton Court Palace.^[9]

He passed away in 1985 in England.^[10] He was buried at Warnham St Margaret Churchyard, Warnham, Sussex.