[2] After working for a time in London, he moved to Lyttelton, New Zealand, with his two brothers (Benjamin and Thomas) in 1851.

He then briefly travelled to Australia, leaving with his wife on the barque Tory on 16 December for Melbourne.

[3] He subsequently returned to Lyttelton, and then moved to Christchurch, where he acted as a lawyer, magistrate, newspaper editor, and ship owner.

[4] One of his sisters, Sarah Ann Moorhouse, married William Barnard Rhodes.

He was defeated in his bid for re-election in 1855, the year in which he was first elected to the Canterbury Provincial Council, but retained the seat in a by-election in 1858.

[8][9] Moorhouse resigned from Westland Boroughs on 20 February 1868,[9] and William Henry Harrison won the resulting by-election.

At the 21 December 1875 election, he stood in the City of Christchurch electorate for the 6th New Zealand Parliament and was returned in third position in this three-member electorate; the other members returned in the election were Edward Richardson and Edward Cephas John Stevens.

There was a draw for second place and the returning officer gave his casting vote to the other candidate, Rev.

Each Christchurch Avenue around the central city is named for one of the former Superintendents, and it was thought appropriate to rename the South Belt for Moorhouse, as it was parallel to the railway line and continued via Ferry Road towards the railway tunnel, two projects that were closely linked to Moorhouse.

[1][25] A statue of Moorhouse, made by George Anderson Lawson in London in 1885, is located in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.