Thomas Sturge Moore in Steep, Hampshire

'The Poet

THOMAS

STURGE

MOORE

lived here

1922–1932'

This April I completely forgot to include a post on Thomas Sturge Moore (1870–1944), but I came upon this plaque by chance when I was investigating Edward Thomas's Steep: it's just a few houses from where Thomas had lived a few years before him. The dates given here are at variance with those given by Frederick Landis Gwynn in Sturge Moore and the Life of Art (Lawrence: University of Kansas, 1951), who states that Moore's stay was 1919–1927.

Moore moved from Hampstead, London, to 'Hillcroft' in Steep with his wife Marie (née Appia, whom he married in 1903) and his children Dan and Riette. None of the family was in the peak of health, and doctors had advised they move to a quieter environment. Moore chose Steep because he wanted his children to attend Bedales, England's first co-educational boarding school.

Moore gained a Civil List pension in 1919 or 1920, but failed to follow Robert Bridges as Poet Laureate in 1930. His brother was the philosopher G. E. Moore.