Have You a Tiger In Your Family?

Rank : Lt Col

Unit : 5th Bn, 1/5th Bn (TA), Depot

Biography :

Educated at Ashby-de-la-Zouch Grammar School, Aubrey Moore became a trooper in The Staffordshire Yeomanry in 1910. In 1913 he transferred to 5th Bn (TF) The Leicestershire Regiment and in Dec 1913 he was commissioned into the Regiment. During this period he became qualified as a mining engineer. In the First World War he served in 1/5th Bn, which arrived in France in February 1915, and he served mostly in one of its rifle companies, and latterly as a Company Commander. Awarded the M.C. (L.G.14.1.1916) for his work in the summer months of 1915 when (due to the paucity of RE tunnelling companies) he and some 25 men of the Bn undertook the mine warfare on the battalion front near Spanbroekmolen on Messines Ridge (south east of Ypres). In a comparative short time, two of the enemy's galleries were blown in and a defensive gallery dug round the whole of the danger zone. He was also Mentioned in Despatches. During the initial attacks for the start of Operation Georgette on the morning of 9.4.1918 Moore and 43 others were very badly gassed, and Moore was sent to England to recover but did not return. It took him ten years fully to recover. He remained in the TA and was promoted Captain 1.11.1920, still being listed in 5th Bn in 1927. At the end of the First World War he tried to resume his studies of mining engineering but found that his wartime experiences of tunnelling saps had given him claustrophobia, so he turned first to work in stone quarrying and then in the new sugar beet refining industry. As a member of the TA Reserve, he was recalled for war duty in Sep 1939 and for three years commanded an Infantry recruit company at Glen Parva Barracks, Leicester. In 1942 he took command of a unit guarding Sywell aerodrome, near Wellingborough, Northants, until demobilised in 1944 - airfield defence having become a lower national priority than sugar production.
From 1944 until his retirement in 1958 he was manager of the British Sugar Corporation's operations at Spalding. In retirement he became chairman of the Heythrop Hunt Supporters. President of the Bloxham branch of The Royal British Legion for 34 years (and was awarded the Legion's Gold Medal). He died in 1992, aged 98 years, at which time he was the oldest surviving member of The Leicestershire Regiment and The Staffordshire Yeomanry.
He was the author of "From Leicestershire to the Somme" - recollections of his experiences when serving in 5th Leicesters 1915-18, ISBN 9780862990367 (published 1992).
His Webley revolver is held in a museum in Belgium - see http://www.classicfirearms.be/Museum/EXPAND%20ENG/AUBREY%20MOORE/AUBREY%20MOORE%20TEXT.html
He was brother-in-law of Major the father of Major P J de A Moore MC who was commissioned into the Regiment in 1942 and served in 2/5th Bn 1941-46, Record Serial No. 41790.

Date of Birth : 30.8.1893

Place of Birth : Appleby Magna, Leics

Date of Death : 10.4.1992

Place of Death : Bodicote, Oxon

Civil Occupation : mining engineer; sugar beet refining industry

Period of Service : 1915-44

Conflicts : WW1 and WW2

Places Served : UK, France & Flanders