Moore, William (Willie)
Second Lieutenant
10th Battalion, Princess Victoria’s (Royal Irish Fusiliers)
Killed in action on Thursday 16 August 1917 (aged 24)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium (Panel 140 to 141)
Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) War Memorial
Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) Book of Remembrance
Journey of Remembering Belfast Book of Honour
BIOGRAPHY
William Moore was born on 13 December 1892 and he was a son of Dr Archibald Pollock Bailie Moore and Mrs Elizabeth Rogers Moore (nee Stevenson) who were married on 10 April 1889 in Maghera Presbyterian Church, Co Londonderry. Both of William’s parents were born in County Londonderry.
The Moore family lived in Ashley House, Mountpottinger, 174 Albertbridge Road, Belfast.
Dr Archibald Moore was a general medical practitioner and he and Elizabeth had three children:
William (born 13 December 1892)
Archibald (born 28 April 1894)
Mary E. (born 18 June 1902)
William Moore attended Campbell College, Belfast from 1905 to 1912. He entered Queen’s University Belfast Arts Faculty on 17 October 1912 and the University Officers’ Training Corps (OTC) on 8 November 1915.
William Moore joined the Army and obtained a commission as Second Lieutenant with the 10th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers. Until May 1917 he served as a bombing instructor and was stationed in Newtownards where he was ‘well known in the local community’.
Second Lieutenant William Moore went to France and on 15 June 1917 he wrote a letter to his mother from the 36th (Ulster) Division Base Depot at Le Havre. In it he intimated that he was going to the Front with the 9th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers in 108th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division. The last letter that he wrote was to his father and it was dated 14 August 1917. In it he said that he was soon to be in action again and that he might not be able to write very much for a while. ‘Whatever happens, don’t worry’, he wrote.
Second Lieutenant William Moore was 24 when he was killed in action on 16 August 1917 during the Battle of Langemarck and he has no known grave. He is commemorated on the Campbell College War Memorial; on the Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) War Memorial; in the Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) Book of Remembrance (Page 42) and in the Belfast Book of Honour (Page 481).
William Moore’s father, Archibald, died on 30 May 1922 (aged 69).