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Lieutenant the Hon. Matthew Henry Moreton

Birthplace:
- Tortworth Court, Gloucestershire, England

Birthdate:
- 4 August 1847

Nationality:
- English

Family Background:
- Moreton's father was the third Earl of Ducie, of Tortworth Court, Gloucestershire

At Sandhurst:
- Yes

Career before Halifax:
- Ensign, 3 October 1866 (purchase)
- Lieutenant, 2 September 1868 (purchase)

Postings while in NS Command:
- Not certain

Career after Halifax:
- retired by sale of commission while 78th was still in Halifax, 16 March 1870

Died:
- 17 March 1909

Moreton was the third Earl of Ducie's tenth son. The Earl was a Gloucestershire peer, who owned 5 193 acres in that county which had a yearly income of £8 419, 8 798 acres in Oxfordshire worth £13 430 a year, and one acre in Lincolnshire worth £122 a year, producing a total yearly income for the earl of £21 971.

Moreton was evidently intended for military service, and was sent to Sandhurst. Before he graduated, his brother, the fourth Earl of Ducie (his father, the third earl, having died in 1853) wrote to the Horse Guards requesting that Matthew Henry be allowed to purchase a commission in the 60th Rifles. This was one of the most fashionable of the non-Guards regiments, and Ducie was careful to comment that his brother had "sufficient fortune to enable him to live as an officer." If a commission in the 60th proved impossible, then Moreton preferred the 43rd Monmouthshire Regiment, the 52nd Oxfordshire Regiment, or the 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers. When a commission proved unavailable in any of these, but a vacancy did open up in the 78th, Ducie wrote, "I hear a very good account of this regiment, and that it is one in wh. a man may really learn his profession."

After leaving the army, Moreton served for a time as a magistrate in New Guinea. He married in 1901, and died on 17 March 1909.

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