AASP Primary Records Program

AASP Newsletter 37(1): p. 4-5, 2004.

Leslie Moore, who died on the 13th November 2003, was one of the founders of modern Carboniferous palynology. The son of a miner, Leslie grew up in the small market and mining town of Midsomer Norton in the county of Somerset, England. His family encouraged him to obtain a good education and hoped that he would study medicine. However Leslie won a scholarship to the University of Bristol and decided to read geology. In Bristol where he obtained both his BSc and PhD and later a DSc, he came under the guidance of Professor Arthur Trueman, the influential Carboniferous stratigrapher and coalfield geologist. This may well have influenced the decision that his PhD research should be on the structure, stratigraphy and economic geology of the eastern part of the Bristol and Somerset Coalfields. He realised early in this research the value of both fossil floral and faunal evidence and utilising these, he made numerous proposals relating to regional correlation of the Coal Measures.

Leslie’s first job was in teaching but he was soon appointed as an Assistant Lecturer in Geology at the University College Cardiff, University of Wales, where his research was expanded to embrace the South Wales Coalfield. It was during this time that he began his research in those aspects of palaeobotany that were to give impetus to the science of palynology. Leslie Moore noted that miospores recovered from the macerations of many Carboniferous fructifications displayed a wide range of morphological (sculptural and structural) variation which he suggested was representative of a sequence of stages towards maturity. He noted the same developmental stages could be observed in fructifications from different plant groups. This had major implications for the morphological classifications, which were then emerging and resulted in the award of the Lyell Fund from the Geological Society of London in 1947. At about that time he moved on to more senior positions in the Universities of Glasgow and then Bristol before accepting the invitation to become Sorby Professor of Geology at the University of Sheffield in 1949. On accepting the appointment, Leslie was charged with the task of promoting the growth of the science in Sheffield, a challenge which was to occupy most of his working life. He saw the Department grow to one of the largest in Great Britain by the late 1960s - early 1970s. An excellent teacher, he always taught the major part of the first year course, frequently lecturing to classes of more than 100, arousing interest and enthusiasm for geology from many generations of students.

The heavy administrative burden of running a large university department was later to restrict the amount of time that Leslie Moore had available for personal research but it was never able to suppress his enthusiasm and commitment. Leslie’s early work on Coal Measure plants and their developing miospores was to have a major influence on the development of palynology. In the early 1950s he appointed Charles Downie to the staff and supervised his work on the Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay. Shortly afterwards he began the supervision of the research of Roger Neves, Herbert Sullivan, George Hart and John Richardson on a range of Upper Palaeozoic studies. Under his guidance they provided the beginning of the Sheffield school of palynology which was to lead to the emergence of countless young palynologists who would find employment in industry and academia in many parts of the world.

Leslie Moore together with others including Robert Potonié, Paul Corsin, Boris Alpern and W.J.van Leckwijck had the foresight during the Heerlen Congress on Carboniferous Stratigraphy and Geology in 1958 to propose the establishment of a component body of the Congress which would explore the value of spores in Carboniferous stratigraphy. From that proposal, the embryonic CIMP emerged in 1960 and the rest is history. Leslie Moore maintained his interest in the work of the organisation throughout his working life and on several occasions was delighted to welcome the organisation to hold its meetings in Sheffield. He was particularly proud to have been able to act as the host department for the staging of the 6th International Congress of Carboniferous Stratigraphy and Geology in 1967 when more than 400 scientists including members of CIMP and the International Commission on Coal Petrography held their meetings in Sheffield.

The increasing role that the wider science of micropalaeontology was playing in British stratigraphy was recognised early by Leslie. In 1970, after extended discussions with other geological societies, he was instrumental in the establishment of the British Micropalaeontological Society and served as its first President. During the latter part of his Sheffield career, he increasingly turned the attention of his personal research towards palaeo-microbiology in the search for evidence of fungal and bacterial attack on organic material in sedimentary rocks. Unfortunately little of this work was completed and published before his retirement but his account of these phenomena in the Precambrian Nonesuch Shale from the USA was to act as a catalyst for other workers.

Leslie Moore retired in 1977 after spending 28 years as Sorby Professor of Geology in Sheffield. He retired with his wife Peggy to the village of Curbar in the beautiful Derbyshire Peak District, from where he kept in touch with many of the Sheffield palynologists that he had watched develop. Unfortunately his wife died in 1985, a blow which hurt Leslie deeply. With the progressive loss of mobility, he decided that he would move to Birmingham in order to be close to his son. He died peacefully on 13th November 2003 at the age of 91 years.