Like his father he studied medicine – in Edinburgh and London – and became a house surgeon at St George's Hospital.

He served as an army medical officer in 1781 during the American Revolutionary War and returned to Britain in early 1782.

He is now best-known for his biography of his elder brother Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore who died at the Battle of Corunna in 1809, during the Peninsular War.

They had five children: Harriet Jane (1801–84), Louisa (1802–53), Julia (1803-1904), John Carrick (1805-98) and Graham Francis (1806-1883).

Four are particularly noteworthy: James Carrick Moore died on 1 June 1860 at 9 Clarges Street, London.