Noel Ernest Ackroyd Moore (25 November 1928 – 30 May 2008) was a British

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

who was responsible for running the process leading to the decimalisation of the UK's currency in 1971. He was later principal of the Civil Service College.

Early life

Born in Yorkshire, on 25 November 1928, Moore was the son of a

monumental mason Monumental masonry (also known as memorial masonry) is a kind of stonemasonry focused on the creation, installation and repairs of headstones (also known as gravestones and tombstones) and other memorials. Cultural significance In Christian cu ...

. Schooled at

Penistone Grammar School Penistone Grammar School (PGS) is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Penistone, South Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1392, it is the 45th oldest extant school in England with its most notable alumnus being Nicholas S ...

, he went up to

Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

on a scholarship to read

modern languages A modern language is any human language that is currently in use. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication (such as French and German) and dead classical languages such a ...

, graduating in 1950. During his time at Cambridge he won a half-blue for

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, and developed what would be a lifelong interest in the history and culture of

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. University was followed by

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

, a period in the ranks was followed by a commission as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the

Royal Army Educational Corps The Royal Army Educational Corps (RAEC) was a corps of the British Army tasked with educating and instructing personnel in a diverse range of skills. On 6 April 1992 it became the Educational and Training Services Branch (ETS) of the Adjutant Gene ...

Civil service

Moore entered the

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in 1952 in the grade of assistant principal. He initially retained an army commission in the Territorial Army, transferring to the Intelligence Corps on 26 November 1952. He was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

on 16 February 1953, acting

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 1 June 1954 and substantive captain on 25 November 1955. He transferred to the TA reserve of officers on 2 May 1956. He was promoted to the grade of principal in 1957. Moore began his association with

decimalisation Decimalisation or decimalization (see spelling differences) is the conversion of a system of currency or of weights and measures to units related by powers of 10. Most countries have decimalised their currencies, converting them from non-decimal ...

in 1961 when he was appointed secretary to the British Committee of Inquiry on Decimal Currency, chaired by

John Giffard, 3rd Earl of Halsbury John Anthony Hardinge Giffard, 3rd Earl of Halsbury FRS (4 June 1908 – 14 January 2000), was a British crossbencher peer and scientist. Halsbury succeeded to the title in 1943. Early life Giffard was educated at Ludgrove School (where a s ...

. From 1966 he played the same role for the Decimal Currency Board, chaired by Lord Fiske, effectively giving him day-to-day responsibility for managing the transition to decimal currency. Despite the scale of the project, it encountered few problems, and the changeover was largely free from problems. His 1973 book, ''The Decimalisation of Britain’s Currency'' is considered the definitive account of the changeover. With the successful conclusion of decimalisation, Moore transferred to the

Civil Service Department In the Government of the United Kingdom, the minister for the Civil Service is responsible for regulations regarding His Majesty's Civil Service, the role of which is to assist the governments of the United Kingdom in formulating and implementin ...

in 1972, with the grade of under secretary. He was much concerned with improving management in the civil service, ultimately serving as principal of the Civil Service College in

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from 1981 to 1986.

Retirement

Following Moore's retirement in 1986 he continued to be in demand as an advisor to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

on how to manage the transition to the

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

. He also advised the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

for an exhibition marking 25 years since the introduction of the decimal currency. In 2000 he was extensively interviewed for ''Funny Money'', a documentary about decimalisation in

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's ''

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'' series. With his wife, Mary, whom he had married in 1954, he was a regular volunteer at an

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shop in Brentwood. Mary died in January 2008. Moore died of a brain tumour on 30 May 2008, leaving two sons, David and Richard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Noel Ernest Ackroyd 1928 births 2008 deaths Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Civil servants in the General Post Office Civil servants in the Civil Service Department Royal Army Educational Corps officers Intelligence Corps officers Deaths from brain tumor People educated at Penistone Grammar School Military personnel from Yorkshire 20th-century British Army personnel