Captain Sir Tom Moore
Captain Sir Thomas Moore (30 April 1920 – 2 February 2021), popularly known as Captain Tom, was a British Army officer and centenarian, known for his achievements raising money for charity in the run-up to his 100th birthday during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moore served in India, the Burma campaign during the Second World War, and later became an instructor in armoured warfare. After the war, he worked as managing director of a concrete company and was an avid motorcycle racer.
Background
Moore was born in Keighley, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 30 April 1920 and grew up in the town. His father, Wilfred, was one of a family of builders, and his mother was a head teacher. Moore was educated at Keighley Grammar School and started an apprenticeship in civil engineering.
The Army veteran, originally from Keighley in West Yorkshire, came to prominence by walking 100 laps of his garden in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, before his 100th birthday during the first national lockdown in the UK.
Capt Tom joined the Army at the beginning of World War Two, serving in India and Myanmar, then known as Burma.
Military Service
Moore was conscripted in the 8th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's Regiment (8 DWR) in May 1940, stationed in Cornwall, eight months after the beginning of the Second World War. He was selected for officer training later that year, and attended an Officer Cadet Training Unit before being commissioned as a second lieutenant on 28 June 1941.
On 22 October 1941, Moore became a member of the Royal Armoured Corps. This was because 8 DWR became an armoured unit designated as the 145th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps. Later that year, he was transferred to the 9th Battalion (9 DWR) in India, which had converted to become the 146th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps. While in India he was tasked with setting up and running a training programme for army motorcyclists. He was initially posted to Bombay (now Mumbai) and subsequently to Calcutta (now Kolkata).
He was promoted to war-substantive lieutenant on 1 October 1942 and to temporary captain on 11 October 1944.
As part of the Fourteenth Army, the so-called "Forgotten Army", he served in Arakan in western Burma (now Myanmar) – where he survived dengue fever. Moore returned to the UK in February 1945, to take a training course on the inner workings of the Churchill tanks, learning to become an instructor. He did not return to the regiment, remaining as an instructor and the Technical Adjutant of the Armoured Vehicle Fighting School in Bovington Camp, Dorset, until he was demobilised in early 1946.
For 64 years, he organised the DWR's annual reunion.
Career and Hobbies
After leaving the army, he worked as a sales manager for a roofing materials company in Yorkshire, and later as managing director of a Fens-based company manufacturing concrete, Cawood Concrete Products Ltd., which was renamed March Concrete Products Ltd. after he led a management buyout in 1983. The company was sold to ARC in 1987.
Moore raced motorcycles competitively – he purchased his first when he was 12 and wore the number 23. He rode a Scott motorcycle, winning several trophies. Moore was a member of the Keighley and District Photographic Association between 1934 and 1936, as had been his father.
He was a contestant in the Christmas Day 1983 edition of the BBC Television game show Blankety Blank.
Knighthood
Captain Sir Tom Moore has been knighted in the Queen's first official engagement in person since lockdown. The investiture to honour the 100-year-old, who raised more than £32m for NHS charities, was staged in a "unique ceremony" at Windsor Castle. He has been recognised for walking more than 100 laps of his garden in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire.
The Queen personally praised Capt Sir Tom, telling him: "Thank you so much, an amazing amount of money you raised." In May 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a special nomination for the war veteran to be knighted. Buckingham Palace said it was the first time the ceremony had been held in the strictly socially-distanced format.
The Queen used the sword that belonged to her father, George VI, to bestow the insignia of Knight Bachelor upon Capt Sir Tom.
File:Sir Tom Moore.jpg File:The Queen and Sir Tom Moore.jpg
100 laps
The Army veteran won the nation's hearts by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday. He managed to raise almost £33m for the NHS.
Capt Sir Tom, who was given the honorary title of colonel on his 100th birthday, had initially set out to raise £1,000 for NHS charities by repeatedly walking an 82ft (25m) loop of his garden.
But he eventually raised £32,794,701 from more than 1.5m supporters.
Guinness World Records
Moore held two Guinness World Records: as the fundraiser raising the greatest amount of money in an individual charity walk, and as the oldest person to have a number-one single on the UK charts.
Awards
- Awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award at the 2020 ceremony. He performed in a cover version of the song "You'll Never Walk Alone" sung by Michael Ball, with proceeds going to the same charity. The single topped the UK music charts, making him the oldest person to achieve a UK number one.
Death
Captain Sir Tom Moore died of Coronavirus on 2 February 2021. He was taken to Bedford Hospital after requiring help with his breathing on Sunday 31 January 2021. In a statement, Capt Sir Tom's daughters Mrs Ingram-Moore and Lucy Teixeira said: "It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our dear father, Captain Sir Tom Moore.[1]
