# Captain Tom Moore
**Captain Sir Tom Moore** was a British World War II veteran who became a national figure in April 2020, at the age of 99, by walking 100 laps of his garden to raise money for NHS Charities Together during the COVID-19 pandemic, eventually raising about £39 million. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and died with COVID-19 in February 2021, and his later legacy was clouded by a Charity Commission inquiry into the family-run foundation bearing his name.[1](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| The walk | 100 laps of his garden in April 2020, begun while recovering from illness as a tribute to the NHS, with an original fundraising target of £1,000[1](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation) • [2](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/captain-tom-moore-covid-fundraising-b2689517.html) |
| Money raised | £32.8 million by the time the JustGiving page closed on 30 April 2020, £38.9 million including Gift Aid[2](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/captain-tom-moore-covid-fundraising-b2689517.html) |
| Share of the appeal | 20.25 percent of the £162 million raised by NHS Charities Together's Covid-19 Urgent Appeal[2](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/captain-tom-moore-covid-fundraising-b2689517.html) |
| World record | Guinness World Record for most money raised by a charity walk (individual): £27,699,581 on JustGiving as of 21 April 2020[3](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2020/4/99-year-old-captain-tom-moore-smashes-global-fundraising-record-and-tops-uk-chart-615786) |
| Knighthood | Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on 17 July 2020 at Windsor Castle, in what Buckingham Palace believed was the first socially distanced investiture[4](https://www.axios.com/2020/07/17/captain-tom-moore-knighted-queen-elizabeth) |
| Death | Died 2 February 2021, aged 100, after being hospitalized with pneumonia and COVID-19[5](https://time.com/5935277/captain-tom-moore-dies/) |
| Foundation inquiry | The November 2024 Charity Commission report found his daughter and son-in-law personally benefited by almost £1.5 million from activities linked to the Captain Tom Foundation[6](https://apnews.com/article/138e7825dacafa23c00df2361ac01e6c) |
## Life before 2020
Moore was a decorated veteran of the Second World War who served in the India and Burma campaigns, later became an armored vehicle instructor, and then worked as the managing director of a concrete manufacturer.[2](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/captain-tom-moore-covid-fundraising-b2689517.html) He lived in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, at the outbreak of the pandemic.[2](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/captain-tom-moore-covid-fundraising-b2689517.html)
## The 2020 fundraising walk
When the UK's first lockdown began in March 2020, Moore set out to raise £1,000 for NHS Charities Together by walking 100 lengths of his garden before his 100th birthday in 2020.[2](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/captain-tom-moore-covid-fundraising-b2689517.html) The Charity Commission's later report describes how he completed the 100 laps while recovering from illness, and that donations via a JustGiving page, titled "Tom's 100th Birthday Walk for the NHS," passed £38.9 million including Gift Aid by 30 April, the day his 100th birthday and the page's closure coincided.[1](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation) All of the funds raised through that page were donated to and received by NHS Charities Together as part of its urgent Covid-19 appeal.[1](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation)
__Donations rose far beyond the original target__ as the story spread through television and social media; the [BBC Breakfast](https://www.edgepedia.org/bbc-breakfast) team watched the total go from £1,000 past a million pounds.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/01/hes-just-a-wonderful-man-how-captain-tom-became-a-superstar-fundraiser) On 21 April 2020 the running total of £27,699,581 earned him the Guinness World Record for the most money raised by an individual charity walk.[3](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2020/4/99-year-old-captain-tom-moore-smashes-global-fundraising-record-and-tops-uk-chart-615786) Concerns that the platform JustGiving was keeping a large share of the money were checked and found false: the company stated that after deducting processing fees, over 97 percent of the total raised would go to charity.[8](https://fullfact.org/online/justgiving-commission-captain-tom/)
His fundraising made him a guest of honor at the official opening of the Yorkshire Nightingale hospital in [Harrogate](https://www.edgepedia.org/harrogate), which the NHS arranged as a way of recognizing his efforts.[9](https://www.england.nhs.uk/2020/04/nhs-fundraiser-captain-tom-moore-to-open-yorkshire-nightingale-hospital/) [Royal Mail](https://www.edgepedia.org/royal-mail) stamped all post for a period with a postmark reading "Happy 100th Birthday Captain Thomas Moore NHS fundraising hero 30th April 2020."
## Chart single and honors
In the same weeks Moore recorded a rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone" with the singer [Michael Ball](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-ball) and the NHS Voices of Care Choir, and the single topped the UK chart, part of the recognition that accompanied the record total.[3](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2020/4/99-year-old-captain-tom-moore-smashes-global-fundraising-record-and-tops-uk-chart-615786) On 17 July 2020 Queen Elizabeth II conferred the honor of knighthood on him at [Windsor Castle](https://www.edgepedia.org/windsor-castle); [Buckingham Palace](https://www.edgepedia.org/buckingham-palace) believed the ceremony, performed with social distancing, was the first of its kind, and the Queen made an exception to her suspension of investitures during the pandemic.[4](https://www.axios.com/2020/07/17/captain-tom-moore-knighted-queen-elizabeth)
## Death
Moore died on 2 February 2021 at the age of 100, after being admitted to hospital with pneumonia and testing positive for COVID-19; his family said he had not received a vaccine because he had been suffering from pneumonia.[5](https://time.com/5935277/captain-tom-moore-dies/) Prime Minister Boris Johnson called him "a hero in the truest sense of the word."
## The Captain Tom Foundation and the inquiry
The Captain Tom Foundation was incorporated on 5 May 2020 and registered with the Charity Commission on 5 June 2020, set up to continue raising money for good causes in his name.[1](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation) On 13 May 2020 Captain Tom had assigned all his intellectual property rights to a private family trust for the long-term benefit of the Ingram-Moore family, which licensed those rights to Club Nook Limited, a family company incorporated on 24 April 2020.[1](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation) In February 2022 The Independent reported that in its first year the foundation had paid £54,039 to two companies controlled by his daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin, and had spent more on management costs than it had released in grants.[10](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/captain-tom-foundation-charity-daughter-firm-b2013335.html)
The Charity Commission opened a statutory inquiry on 16 June 2022, examining misconduct and mismanagement, conflicts of interest with the family's companies, and compliance with charity law.[1](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation) Its report, published on 21 November 2024, found the Ingram-Moores made almost £1.5 million from activities linked to the charity, including a book deal and an £18,000 fee for attending an awards ceremony, and that £1.5 million in advances from a publishing deal covering three books went to their company Club Nook with no money received by the charity.[6](https://apnews.com/article/138e7825dacafa23c00df2361ac01e6c) • [2](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/captain-tom-moore-covid-fundraising-b2689517.html) The report also criticized the use of the charity's name for private benefit in erecting a spa building at the family's home, and examined a "Captain Tom" limited-edition gin advertised at £100 a bottle with profits said to go to the charity.[2](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/captain-tom-moore-covid-fundraising-b2689517.html) • [1](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation) The regulator barred Hannah Ingram-Moore from serving as a charity trustee for 10 years and Colin Ingram-Moore for 8 years; the family said the report treated them unfairly and denied any misappropriation of funds.[6](https://apnews.com/article/138e7825dacafa23c00df2361ac01e6c) The charity is not currently operating.[1](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation)
## Fundraising impact
Moore's walk accounted for about a fifth of the £162 million raised by NHS Charities Together's Covid-19 Urgent Appeal, and the platform hosting his campaign recorded the largest single-campaign total in its history at that point.[2](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/captain-tom-moore-covid-fundraising-b2689517.html) His example also inspired further fundraising by others around the world, from school children to war veterans in other countries, generating millions of pounds more for charitable causes.[11](https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/supportthecaptaintomfoundation)
## References
1. [Charity Inquiry: The Captain Tom Foundation, Charity Commission / GOV.UK (21 November 2024)](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation/charity-inquiry-the-captain-tom-foundation)
2. [Captain Tom Moore timeline: From NHS hero's legacy in pandemic to controversy, The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/captain-tom-moore-covid-fundraising-b2689517.html)
3. [99-year-old Captain Tom Moore smashes global fundraising record and tops UK charts, Guinness World Records](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2020/4/99-year-old-captain-tom-moore-smashes-global-fundraising-record-and-tops-uk-chart-615786)
4. [Queen knights 100-year-old who raised more than $40 million for U.K.'s National Health Service, Axios (17 July 2020)](https://www.axios.com/2020/07/17/captain-tom-moore-knighted-queen-elizabeth)
5. [Captain Tom Moore, Fundraising Hero of Britain's COVID-19 Lockdown, Dies at 100, TIME (2 February 2021)](https://time.com/5935277/captain-tom-moore-dies/)
6. [UK watchdog slams family of fundraiser Capt. Tom Moore for making personal gains from charity, AP News (21 November 2024)](https://apnews.com/article/138e7825dacafa23c00df2361ac01e6c)
7. ['He's just a wonderful man': how Captain Tom became a superstar fundraiser, The Guardian (1 May 2020)](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/01/hes-just-a-wonderful-man-how-captain-tom-became-a-superstar-fundraiser)
8. [JustGiving are not keeping £2m from donations to Captain Tom, Full Fact](https://fullfact.org/online/justgiving-commission-captain-tom/)
9. [NHS fundraiser Captain Tom Moore to open Yorkshire Nightingale Hospital, NHS England](https://www.england.nhs.uk/2020/04/nhs-fundraiser-captain-tom-moore-to-open-yorkshire-nightingale-hospital/)
10. [Captain Tom charity paid thousands to daughter's firm set up days before foundation established, The Independent (11 February 2022)](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/captain-tom-foundation-charity-daughter-firm-b2013335.html)
11. [#WalkwithTom, JustGiving](https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/supportthecaptaintomfoundation)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Conflict and security › Military and security biographies*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license