Patrick Moore of Buxtehude was born in Perth the son of John Moore and Christian Ruthven. He joined the Swedish military services in 1629; he rose up the ranks from adjutant up to general. He joined the Swedish Army at the time of the Thirty Years War which pitched the Northern protestant powers of Europe against the Hapsburg Empire and her allies. During this war some 50,000 Scottish troops served with Scandinavian armies including: Field-Marshall Alexander Leslie; General James King; General Patrick Ruthven; Colonel Robert Monro; and, Field-Marshall Robert Douglas. He served in the regiment of Arvid Wittenberg and was awarded the title of Colonel on 30 June 1646. Moore was involved in the defence of the duchies of Bremen and Verden in North West Germany which Sweden had appropriated in 1648 after the Peace of Westphalia which ended the Thirty Years War. Moore was a military commander, private merchant and estate owner during his 30 years in Swedish Bremen. In 1646 Queen Christina of Sweden gave him as a long-service award the island of Krautsand in the River Elbe. Not making the profit he had hoped for Moore moved on to Buxtehude near Hamburg. As commandant he saw to the fortification of the region. He also became a cavalry captain in the Witzleben Regiment (1649). Moore often had financial difficulties but eventually amassed a great fortune through various activities including money-lending; he had strong links with the Scottish merchants operating in Hamburg. Throughout the time he spent in Sweden, Moore maintained links back to Scotland. In 1663 he applied for a birth brief from the Scottish Privy Council. In 1652, he was visited by General Patrick Ruthven (most likely his cousin). That night Ruthven suffocated in his sleep. He was buried by Moore in the old cloister near the town. During his stay in Buxtehude, Moore rose steadily within the Swedish Army, so that by 1671 he was Councillor of the Swedish Department of War; by 1675 a Major-General. He died in Buxtehude in 1680. Under the terms of his will a bequest was paid to Perth from his estate – some fifty years after he left that city.
