Moore, David (1808–79), botanist and horticulturist, was born 23 April 1808 in Dundee, Scotland, eldest son of Charles Moir, gardener, and Helen Moir (née Rattray). Of their nine children only seven survived infancy, one daughter and six sons. In 1830 the Moir family changed their name to Moore. David, who sometimes used the form ‘ Muir ’, is said to have welcomed the change as a way of hiding his Scottish origin, although he never attempted to hide his Scottish accent.
He spent his childhood near Dundee and received his first botanical instruction from Douglas Gardiner, conservator of the Dundee Rational Institution Museum. He was apprenticed to the head gardener at the estate of the earl of Camperdown near Dundee, a notable Scottish garden. He went on to work in Cunningham's nursery, Edinburgh. In 1828 he became foreman to J. T. Mackay (qv), director of Trinity College Botanic Gardens in Dublin. In 1832, after the death of his mother, his brother Charles (qv) joined him as an apprentice, at the age of 12.
Under Mackay, he developed a keen interest in Irish flora. This led to his appointment as botanist to the Ordnance Survey in 1833 on a scheme to investigate the natural history of Ireland. He surveyed in Derry and Antrim for over four years and contributed to the memoir Ordnance survey of the county of Londonderry (1837). Dissatisfied with the Survey, he returned to Dublin in 1838 and took up the position of curator of the Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin, after the resignation of Ninian Niven (qv). He remained there for the rest of his life. His brother took on his position as botanist with the Survey.
At Glasnevin he added to the plant collection by travelling widely in the UK and Europe, obtaining interesting and rare specimens. He encouraged donations from abroad and received many plants from his brother Charles, who was curator and then director of the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, Australia. He was an authority on lower plants (cryptogams) and published many works on mosses and liverworts in Ireland. His avid interest in orchids led to experimental propagation and the germination of species from seed to flowering plant for the first time. He also built up an interesting collection of insectivorous plants, and oversaw a programme of renewal of the glass houses in the Botanic Gardens, necessary for the expanding collection. This and the experiments on orchids were carried out as the potato famine was taking place in Ireland. Moore researched the potato disease, and his experiments helped confirm that it was derived from a fungus and not atmospheric conditions, as was the general assumption then. He kept his interest in field botany and native plants all his life, co-authoring with A. G. More (qv) Contributions towards a Cybele Hibernica (1866), an important work on the distribution of native Irish plants. He also produced a guide book on the Botanic Gardens (1850) and wrote many papers for botanical periodicals.
He was the recipient of various honours and distinctions, a Ph.D. from the University of Zurich (1864), and two gold medals from the Royal Horticultural Society of Tuscany (1874). He was an advisory commissioner to the Paris exhibition (1866), juror on the Botanical and Horticultural Congress, St Petersburg (1869), an associate (1841) and fellow (1861) of the Linnaean Society, and a member of the RIA (1845).
He married three times: first (1836) Hannah, daughter of Thomas and Sarah Bridgford of the Spafield Nursery, Ballsbridge. She died from typhus in December 1840, at Glasnevin, leaving a baby and a daughter, Isabella. His second wife, Isabella, died in 1847, again from typhus or dysentery. They are said to have also had two children. However, there is no further trace of these four children in the Moore family records. In 1854 he married Margaret Baker, daughter of Thomas Baker, a Dublin builder; they had three sons and two daughters.
In 1878 the Botanic Gardens changed management from the RDS into the direct control of the Department of Science and Art, and Moore was retained as director. Towards the end of his career he developed strained relationships with his superiors and Professor William McNab (qv), professor of botany with the Royal College of Science, Dublin. He believed there was a campaign to remove him from office, and it was rumoured that McNab wanted his position. However, after his death on 9 June 1879 at Glasnevin, his son, Frederick William (qv), became curator of the internationally acclaimed gardens at the age of 22.