Sir Norman Moore, 1st Baronet - Influences and Connections

Influences and Connections

Moore's friendship with Elwin, a former editor of the Quarterly Review, brought him into contact with important literary figures, including the publishers John Murray, father and son, author and critic Leslie Stephen, and Shakespearian scholar W. J. Craig. Moore's interest in natural history was influenced by his acquaintances with Alfred Newton, Richard Owen, and Charles Darwin. The recipient of an eight-year residential scholarship at St Catharine's, Moore was invited by university's anatomy professor George Murray Humphry, to assist in the establishment of the school of science at Cambridge. Moore however ran foul of St Catharine's master, the Reverend Charles Kirkby Robinson, during a minor scuffle in hall. Robinson rusticated Moore, leading to Moore's friend Elwin waging a pamphlet war on his behalf. Though Moore was allowed to sit his exams, he lost his scholarship, and in 1869 he enrolled at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, to study comparative anatomy.