Thomas Moore - St. George, St. George's Parish, Bermuda - Musician Statues on Waymarking.com

A 3' high life-size bronze bust of Irish poet Thomas Moore rests on a 3' high stone base. The curly haired poet is is shown from the mid-chest up. He is wearing a double breasted coat buttoned left over right, a neck scarf, and a bow tie. He is facing slightly to his left.

A bronze plaque on the front of the base contains an excerpt from his poem Odes to Nea which he wrote in Bermuda. It is inscribed :

Poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer Thomas Moore was born in Dublin, Ireland on May 28, 1779. He was one of the first Catholic students to graduated from Trinity College in 1795. In 1799 he traveled to London to study law but his interests were elsewhere. He became widely regarded as a poet, translator, balladeer, and singer.

In 1803 he was appointed registrar to the Admiralty in Bermuda. He spent several months in Bermuda where he wrote several poems about the islands. He is sometimes called the unofficial poet laureate of Bermuda. He is remembered, together with with John Murray, for burning the memoirs of his friend Lord Byron upon Byron's death.

In 1811 he wrote the libretto and collaborated on the music with Charles Edward Horn for comic opera M. P., or The Blue Stocking. Moore is best know for writing and setting to music many Irish tunes published between 1808 and 1834. After his death in 1852 a collected volume of Moore's Melodies was published under the title Irish Melodies.

As a balladeer and singer he gained great fame as his songs, such as, "The Harp That Once Through Tara’s Halls", "Believe Me, "If All Those Endearing Young Charms", and "The Meeting of the Waters" became very popular. Among the Irish melodies, Thomas Moore is best remembered for writing the lyrics of "The Minstrel Boy" and "The Last Rose of Summer".

Thomas Moore died at age 72 on February 25, 1852 Sloperton Cottage, Bromham, Wiltshire, England.