Biography
Margery Moore was born in the UK town of Birkenhead, the daughter of Thomas Moore (b. c. 1868), originally of Shenley in Hertfordshire, a 'railway employee', and his wife Catherine (b. c. 1877) originally of Beverley, East Yorkshire. By 1911 the family were living in Plymouth at 6 Green Bank Avenue. [3]
In Plymouth Margery took piano lessons from a Miss F. Faull, under whose aegis in January 1918 she took to the platform in a concert in Devonport, Plymouth to raise funds for the Red Cross. One reviewer described her as "a clever young pianist". [4]
In 1924 she passed the Royal Academy of Music licentiate examination (LRAM) in piano performance. [5]
By 1928 Margery Moore had formed the Margery Moore String Quartet in which she played viola. On Tuesday 9 October 1928 the quartet gave a concert in Plymouth that was broadcast by the BBC. [6]
In 1929, on 14 September, she was awarded Durham University's Mus. Bac. degree as an external (corresponding) student. Her examination 'exercise' was a string quartet in D-minor. The university records show that by this date she had moved from Devon to Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, London. [1]
By 1935 Margery Moore was a resident teacher at The Crofts, a school for girls in Station Road, Harrow. [7]
In 1935-36 Margery Moore was recorded as a member of the Union of Music Graduates, [8] [9] which aimed to oppose the granting of spurious music degrees. [10]
In 1936 Margery Moore published a series of four polemical essays in The Musical Times on the subject of piano teaching under the general title Some Problems of the Young Piano Teacher: 1. Children; [11] 2. Adult Beginners; [12] 3. Parents; [13] 4. The Teacher. [14]
From October to December 1936 a short series of advertisements appeared in The Musical Times in which Margery Moore offered her services as an editor for amateur composers at the cost of 1s per manuscript. [15]
In July 1938 Margery Moore published another article in The Musical Times concerning piano pedagogy entitled Concerning the Piano Class. [16]
The period 1933-38 was when Margery Moore was most active in having her compositions published, much of it focussed on music for schools.
In 1939, already a lecturer with the London County Council, [17] working at Toynbee Hall, and also on the staff of the East Sheen County School for Girls, [18] she found time to teach piano to a teenage German émigré called Helmut Kallmann (1922–2012), prior to his emigration to Canada (1940) where he became a pioneering music historian. [19]
At some point before 1939 and until at least 1960 Margery Moore lived at 34 Claremont Square, Islington. [20] [17] At first she lived there with her parents - Thomas aged 68 and Catherine aged 67 - and Roland DeRougemont, then a member of the Auxiliary Fire Service aged 27 and whom she married in 1940. [21]
In September 1944 Margery was appointed to teach a musical appreciation class at the Technical Institute, Richmond, Surrey. [18] The same month she also took up a post with the Workers Educational Association, Guildford branch, to teach music appreciation on Wednesday evenings. [22]
At some point before 1953 Margery and Roland divorced; he remarried in 1953 to Valerie Rampton. [23] )
By 1960 Margery was the sole occupant of the house in Claremont Square. [20]
By 1993 Margery Moore was living at The Chestnuts, Cambridge Park Road, Wanstead. She died in Whipps Cross Hospital, Leytonstone on 19 March 1993 resulting from 'myocardial infarction'. On her death-certificate she is described as 'Music Teacher (retired)'. [24]