He was educated at Harrow School, at Exeter College, Oxford (Arts)[2] and at the University of London (medicine).
He participated as naturalist in expeditions to Ceylon, to California, and to Oregon, and most notably he was in the Challenger expedition aboard HMS Challenger of 1872 through 1876 which covered over 120,000 km (74,565 mi) of the world's oceans.
Moseley began working at the University of London in 1879, and he was awarded the Linacre chair of human and comparative anatomy at Merton College, Oxford in 1881.
Moseley, with Edward Burnett Tylor, oversaw the transfer of Pitt-Rivers' collection from London to Oxford[3] Moseley exerted significant influences on his noted students Halford Mackinder[4] and Walter Garstang, who changed his career choice from medicine to zoology under Moseley's supervision.
Moseley is commemorated in the Latin name of the species, northern rockhopper penguin, the Eudyptes moseleyi.