Henry Byron Moore

Henry Byron Moore (11 February 1839 – 22 June 1925) was an Australian businessman, remembered as secretary of the Victorian Racing Club (VRC) for 45 years, from 1881 to 1925, a few weeks before his death.

Biography Moore was born in Surrey, England on 11 February 1839. He was brought by his family to Victoria in 1852, aged 13, settling first at Geelong, then Ballarat, at the time of the gold rushes. The following year he joined the public service, where in time he was producing maps for the Land Office, where John Walter Osborne was at the forefront of the nascent art of photo-lithography. He was appointed to be Acting District Surveyor for the Geelong division of The Melbourne and Geelong Survey District on 4 June 1866, and rose to the position of Assistant Surveyor-General and District Surveyor appointed 16 September 1869. He was sacked in 1878 as one of the "Black Wednesday" dismissals instigated by Graham Berry and Peter Lalor in their policy of scorched earth political reprisals.

Most other sacked public servants were reinstated, but Moore re-invented himself a financial agent and broker, founding the Melbourne Stock Exchange in Collins Street. He also founded the Melbourne Electric Light Company, and the Melbourne Telephone Exchange Company, both of which were eventually purchased by the Government.

Other interests Away from the racetrack, Moore had artistic interests: he once wrote a book of fairy stories which was published in Melbourne, the proceeds going to the Children's Hospital. He composed and published a set of church chants to benefit the same cause. He was an accomplished organist and pianist. He instigated the first Australian production of Mendelssohn's Elijah.

Last days Around May 1925 a meeting of the VRC committee decided to appoint a replacement for their secretary, who would continue drawing the same salary for life. That turned out to be only a few weeks, as Moore died from pneumonia in Melbourne after a very brief illness, coincidentally on 22 June, the closing date for applications for the job. His remains were interred at the Brighton General Cemetery. on 20 September 1877. Their children included two sons: Eric Byron Moore Carl Byron Moore