26 Facts About Horace Moore-Jones

Horace Millichamp Moore-Jones, first known as Horace Jones, was a notable New Zealand artist, soldier and art teacher.

Horace Moore-Jones soon became a professional artist and worked in both New Zealand and Australia.

Horace Moore-Jones participated in the Gallipoli Campaign initially as a sapper but later as a war artist.

Horace Moore-Jones died in 1922 as a result of extensive burns while rescuing people from a fire which destroyed the Hamilton Hotel, in the city of Hamilton.

Horace Moore-Jones soon developed a good reputation for portraiture and semi-allegorical works which were exhibited with the Art Society of New South Wales.

In June 1901, Dobson died and this left Horace Moore-Jones to raise a two-year-old daughter, Norma; two other children had died in their infancy.

Horace Moore-Jones remarried in 1905, to Florence, with whom he would have three more children.

In 1908, Horace Moore-Jones moved his family to Auckland and re-established himself as an artist there.

Horace Moore-Jones then became an artist on the staff of Pearson's Magazine.

On 25 April 1915, Horace Moore-Jones was among the sapper contingent that landed late in the afternoon on Gallipoli.

In November 1915, a wound to Horace Moore-Jones' hand prevented him from continuing with his sketching work and soon afterwards, he was medically evacuated to England.

Later in 1916, Horace Moore-Jones was repatriated to New Zealand and discharged from the NZEF due to being medically unfit for active duty.

Horace Moore-Jones returned to his family in Auckland and continued creating paintings of the Gallipoli Campaign in between portraiture commissions.

Horace Moore-Jones went on tour with the paintings, giving talks about his experiences at Gallipoli.

Horace Moore-Jones's tour was well subscribed and proved to be of considerable financial benefit to the RSA.

Horace Moore-Jones continued his fund efforts for the RSA into 1918, travelling to many smaller townships to display and lecture about his work at Gallipoli.

Horace Moore-Jones himself did not profit from the tour and short of finance, he, on more than one occasion in 1917, offered to sell his war paintings to the New Zealand Government.

Horace Moore-Jones believed that they should be exhibited in a national gallery to memorialise the New Zealand effort at Gallipoli.

However, the economic situation of the time, together with Prime Minister William Massey's view that no one should profit from the war, meant that Horace Moore-Jones' offers were declined.

The medical orderly was originally believed, including by Horace Moore-Jones, to be the Australian John Simpson Kirkpatrick, who served in the early stages of the Gallipoli Campaign before being killed by a sniper and who was well known for his use of donkeys to transport wounded soldiers from the front lines.

Horace Moore-Jones continued to complete a number of paintings, including further copies of 'The Man with the Donkey'.

Horace Moore-Jones helped to evacuate the guests to a fire escape.

Horace Moore-Jones made his way to another fire escape but received severe burns to his body.

Horace Moore-Jones' artwork is exhibited at several major institutions in both New Zealand and Australia, including the Australian War Memorial, Auckland City Art Gallery, and the Waikato Museum.

In December 2012, it was announced that Hamilton, where Horace Moore-Jones had died, would rename a central city street from Marlborough Place to Sapper Horace Moore-Jones Place in his honour.

On 27 March 2015, a bronze statue of Horace Moore-Jones, was unveiled on Hamilton's Victoria Street facing the old site of the Hamilton Hotel.