In passing, one of his assistants was Herbert Spencer. F. R. Conder was critical of Moorsom's management style and engineering abilities in his "Personal Recollections of English Engineers" (1868) Spencer was less recriminatory in his "Autobiography" (1904), describing Moorsom as a kind man, although he felt that he had treated some subordinates meanly. Chrimes suggests that his problems may have been ""due to the financial pressures of bringing up a large family, combined with working for companies which had limited financial resources.""