John Moore (1729-1802)
Born in Stirling, Moore’s family moved to Glasgow in 1736, where he attended the grammar school and University. In 1744 he was apprenticed to William Stirling and John Gordon, receiving the same medical apprenticeship as Smollett, his distant cousin and lifelong companion. In many ways, Moore’s life resembles Smollett’s – from his route to Europe via England to his role as an author-physician. Unlike Smollett, Moore spent a good portion of his adult life working in Glasgow.
When in London, Moore attended the lectures of William Hunter and William Smellie. When he returned to Glasgow in 1751 he became a member of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow as a surgeon. The next year he was a founding member of one of the city’s most reputable clubs, The Hodge-Podge, members of which included medical men and tobacco merchants.
One the most significant changes to Moore’s life occurred in 1769 when he attended James George, Seventh Duke of Hamilton who was gravely ill. From here, he went on to become the private physician of Douglas, the Eighth Duke, and together with Moore’s son (the now-exalted Sir John Moore of Corunna), they embarked on a grand tour of Europe.
From these and other sojourns in France with Smollett, Moore published two successful travel narratives: A View of Society and Manners in France, Switzerland, and Germany (1779) and A View of Society and Manners in Italy (1781). His Medical Sketches (1786) offers an insight into his life as a surgeon in Glasgow, and his most famous work, the novel Zeluco (1789), places him on the literary map in London. His biographical writing on Smollett was the first in what would become a wealth of information on Moore’s better-remembered fellow Glaswegian.