General Sir James Newton Rodney Moore, (9 June 1905 – 19 May 1985), usually known as Sir Rodney Moore, was a senior British Army officer. He fought in the Second World War and Palestine Emergency, and was General Officer Commanding London District from 1957 to 1959. Moore was appointed the inaugural Chief of Malaysian Armed Forces Staff from 1959 to 1965, a post he occupied during the final stages of the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...

and early period of the

Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation or Borneo confrontation (also known by its Indonesian / Malay name, ''Konfrontasi'') was an armed conflict from 1963 to 1966 that stemmed from Indonesia's opposition to the creation of the Federation of ...

. His final posting was as

Defence Services Secretary The Defence Services Secretary is a senior member of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Responsibilities The Defence Services Secretary is the senior member of the Royal Household responsible for liaison between the Sover ...

from 1964 to 1966.

Early life and education

Moore was born in Bunbury, Western Australia, on 9 June 1905, the son of Major General Sir Newton Moore and his wife, Isabel Lowrie. He was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Military career

After

passing out Passing may refer to: Social identity * Passing (sociology), presenting oneself as a member of another sociological group ** Passing (gender), presenting oneself as being cisgender ** Passing (racial identity), presenting oneself as a member ...

from Sandhurst, he was commissioned 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 ...

into the Grenadier Guards on 29 January 1925. During the Second World War, from 1942 to 1944, he was a

General Staff Officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

(GSO) with the Guards Armoured Division. He was then

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, in North-West Europe. In 1945 he assumed command of the 8th Infantry Brigade in Germany and

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. From 1946 to 1947 he was commander of the 1st Guards Brigade, also in Palestine, during the Palestine Emergency. Returning to the United Kingdom in 1948, Moore was

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

of London District until 1950, and then attended the Imperial Defence College. From 1951 to 1953 Moore was Deputy Adjutant-General, British Army of the Rhine, Germany. Moore then undertook his first NATO posting, as Chief of Staff

Allied Forces Northern Europe Allied Forces Northern Europe (AFNORTH) was the northern Major Subordinate Command of NATO's Allied Command Europe (ACE), located at Kolsås outside Oslo. In the case of war with the Soviet Union, AFNORTH would assume supreme command of all Allie ...

. Returning to the Middle East in 1955, Moore was General Officer Commanding (GOC)

1st Infantry Division 1st Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) *1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) *1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoured Division (Australi ...

. He was then transferred, in the same year, to command the

10th Armoured Division 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. Returning to London in 1957, Moore 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 Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

and Director of Border Operations, Malaya. 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. His last active appointment was as the first

at the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

in London. He retired in 1966. From 1965 to 1966 Moore was Aide-de-Camp General to The Queen. Moore spent his last years as Chief Steward of

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

. Moore was also a Gentleman Usher to the Royal Household.

References

External links

Generals of World War II
, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Rodney 1905 births 1985 deaths Military personnel from Western Australia Alumni of the Royal College of Defence Studies British Army generals British Army brigadiers of World War II British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency British military personnel of the Palestine Emergency Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Grenadier Guards officers Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany People educated at Harrow School People from Bunbury, Western Australia