Dorothea Mary Moore (1881 â 5 May 1933) was an author of children's and historical novels and a playwright. She was called a "faithful portrayer of the English schoolgirl." She published the first Girl Guide novel, Terry, the Girl Guide, in 1912.
Moore was born to Rev. W Moore. She had two sisters and one brother and grew up in Kingston Deverill, Wiltshire. She worked as an actress with the Alex Maclean Company in 1911 and 1912. During World War I she volunteered with the Voluntary Aid Detachment at Malling House Hospital in Kent. She was in delicate health and lived with her brother, a doctor. She was a supporter of the Primrose League and a member of the Women's Writers Club. She was buried at Horn Hill Church, Chalfont St. Peter.
Many of Moore's books were published by S W Partridge and Co. Her works were translated into Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and French. She was also published in America. She published The Dorothea Moore Omnibus in 1931. As well as writing stand-alone books, Moore made contributions to Children's Friend magazine, the British Girls' Annual, the Girl's Own Paper and Little Folks. In 1924 she started editing a column "for cripple children in hospital wards" for The Cripples Journal.
Moore joined the Girl Guide movement in its infancy. She became captain of a Guide company in Eastbourne, whose members included Tirzah Garwood in the 1920s. She went on to become a Guide commissioner. Her book Terry, the Girl Guide (1912) was the first Girl Guide novel to be published, with a foreword by Agnes Baden-Powell, the Guide president. Moore's story Guide Gilly was featured in The Guide magazine, resulting in a stand-alone novel in 1922. She also contributed to The Girl Guides' Book in 1923 and 1926.