Rowland Harry Mainwaring Moody was born on 1 May 1875 in Bermuda, the only child of Major General Sir John Macdonald Moody, Royal Marines (1839-1921) and Lady Isabella Moody née Mainwaring (1844-1931).
In the 1881 census is shown as aged 5 years, living at 'South Bank Lodge', 6 Holland Park Terrace, Kensington, London, with his parents, together with a cook, a housemaid and a nurse. His father was shown as a Major in the Royal Marines.
He was educated at Charterhouse School, Godalming, Surrey, where he is shown as a scholar on the 1891 census. From the Roll of Honour website we learn that in December 1896 he joined the Royal Fusiliers from the Militia, becoming a Lieutenant in May 1898 and being transferred in August 1898 to the Lancashire Fusiliers in which regiment he was promoted to Captain in October 1900. He served in the Regiment's 2nd Battalion in the Second Boer War and was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with the 1901 clasp together with three clasps for 'Transvaal', 'Tugela Heights' and 'Relief of Ladysmith'.
On 27 October 1910 he married Sybil Marie Conway Bishop (1887-1944) at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, London and their only child, Aubrey Rowland Moody (1911-2004), was born on 31 July 1911, his birth being registered in the Bury registration district, Lancashire.
When he completed his April 1911 census return form he described himself as 'Infantry. Captain (Army)', living in a nine roomed property at 72 Walmersley Road, Bury, Lancashire, with his wife, together with a cook and a kitchen-maid.
Still serving in the 2nd Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, he entered France on 22 August 1914 and was reported missing, presumed dead, aged 39 years, four days later on 26 August 1914 at the Battle of Cambrai. As he has no known grave he is commemorated on Stone 12 on the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre memorial, 8 Place du Mémorial, 77260 La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, France.
Probate records show that his address had been 'Craiglands', River, Kent and that when probate was granted to his widow on 5 February 1916 his effects totalled £2,347-1s-10d.
Following the war, his wife was sent his £45-0s-0d war gratuity on 2 August 1919 and he was posthumously awarded the 1914 Star with the '5th Aug - 22nd Nov' clasp, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.
He is shown as MOODY. R.H.M. CAPTAIN. 2ND BATT LANCS.FUS. on the Quebec Chapel war memorial at the Church of The Annunciation, Bryanston Street, Marylebone, as R.H.M. MOODY on the 1892 year tablet in the Charterhouse School Chapel, as CAPT. R.H.M. MOODY on the Marylebone Cricket Club's war memorial at the top of the South staircase of the Lord's Members Pavilion, Lord's Cricket Ground, St John's Wood Road, London, NW8 8QN and as Captain Rowland Harry Mainwaring Moody on the Corinthian Casuals Football Club's Roll of Honour. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website and on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website who in 2023 claim, incorrectly, his date of birth as 1 May 1876.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
