Field Marshal
Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...
Charles Moore, 1st Marquess of Drogheda (29 June 1730 – 22 December 1822), styled Viscount Moore from 1752 until 28 October 1758 and then Earl of Drogheda until 2 July 1791, was an
Irish peer
The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...
and later a
British peer
The peerages in the United Kingdom are a legal system comprising both hereditary and lifetime titles, composed of various noble ranks, and forming a constituent part of the British honours system. The term '' peerage'' can be used both coll ...
, and military officer. He bore the colours of his regiment at the
Battle of Culloden in April 1746 during the
Jacobite risings
, war =
, image = Prince James Francis Edward Stuart by Louis Gabriel Blanchet.jpg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766
, active ...
and later commanded the
18th Light Dragoons during operations against the
Whiteboys
The Whiteboys ( ga, na Buachaillí Bána) were a secret Irish agrarian organisation in 18th-century Ireland which defended tenant-farmer land-rights for subsistence farming. Their name derives from the white smocks that members wore in the ...
in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. He also sat as
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
in the
Irish House of Commons
The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...
and, having served as
Chief Secretary to the
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he went on to become
Master-General of the Irish Ordnance.
Career
![Moore Abbey Residential Home 2007 08 27](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Moore_Abbey_Residential_Home_2007_08_27.jpg)
Born the son of
Edward Moore, 5th Earl of Drogheda
Edward Moore, 5th Earl of Drogheda PC (I) (1701 – 28 October 1758) was an Anglo-Irish peer and politician.
Background
Moore was the second son of Charles Moore, Lord Moore, son of Henry Hamilton-Moore, 3rd Earl of Drogheda, and Jane Loftus, ...
and Sarah Moore (daughter of
Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough
Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough (1679 – 4 July 1758), was a British politician and peer. He was the son of William Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Duncannon, and Mary Moore. He was an active politician from 1705 to 1757 in Great Britain and ...
),
Moore joined the Army in 1744 as a
cornet in the
12th Dragoons,
and bore the colours at the
Battle of Culloden in April 1746 during the
Jacobite risings
, war =
, image = Prince James Francis Edward Stuart by Louis Gabriel Blanchet.jpg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766
, active ...
.
He was promoted
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
in 1750 and reached the rank of
major in 1752 and the rank of brevet
lieutenant-colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...
on 18 January 1755.
[
In 1757 Moore became ]Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for St Canice
Cainnech of Aghaboe (515/16–600), also known as Saint Canice in Ireland, Saint Kenneth in Scotland, Saint Kenny and in Latin Sanctus Canicus, was an Irish abbot, monastic founder, priest and missionary during the early medieval period. Cainn ...
.[Heathcote, p. 222] He held the seat until he succeeded as 6th Earl of Drogheda following the death of his father at sea while travelling from England to Dublin in October 1758.[ He was also elected Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1758, a post he held for the next two years. He became Governor of ]County Meath
County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the ...
in January 1759 and lieutenant-colonel commandant of the 19th (later 18th) Light Dragoons on 7 December 1759.[
Promoted to brevet colonel of dragoons on 19 February 1762, Moore became honorary colonel of his regiment on 3 August 1762.] He commanded the 18th Light Dragoons during operations against the Whiteboys
The Whiteboys ( ga, na Buachaillí Bána) were a secret Irish agrarian organisation in 18th-century Ireland which defended tenant-farmer land-rights for subsistence farming. Their name derives from the white smocks that members wore in the ...
in Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
which started in 1762.[ He became Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1763, ]Governor of Kinsale and Charles Fort
The governor of Kinsale was a military officer who commanded the garrison at Kinsale and Charles Fort in County Cork. The office became a sinecure and in 1833 was to be abolished from the next vacancy.
List of governors of Kinsale and Charles Fo ...
in 1765 and a Lord Justice of Ireland
The Lords Justices (more formally the Lords Justices General and General Governors of Ireland) were deputies who acted collectively in the absence of the chief governor of Ireland (latterly the Lord Lieutenant) as head of the executive branch o ...
in 1766.[ He commissioned ]Moore Abbey
Moore Abbey () is a monastic house on the east bank of the River Barrow at Monasterevin in County Kildare, Ireland.
History
Moore Abbey was designed by the English engineer Christopher Myers in the Gothic style and was built in the late 176 ...
as his country home in 1767 and was appointed Custos Rotulorum of King's County in 1766 and Custos Rotulorum of Queen's County
The Custos Rotulorum of Queen's County was the highest civil officer in Queen's County, Ireland (now County Laois). The position was later combined with that of Lord Lieutenant of Queen's County.
Incumbents
*1634–?1642 Sir Charles Coote, 1 ...
in 1769, both offices for life.[
Promoted to ]major-general
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
on 30 April 1770, Moore became Master-General of the Irish Ordnance and colonel-in-chief of the Royal Irish Artillery
The Royal Irish Artillery was an Irish regiment of the British army in the 18th century. It was formed in 1755 as The Artillery Company of Ireland. The name was changed in 1760 to The Royal Regiment of Irish Artillery.
They were recruited all over ...
in 1770.[ He became ]Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for Horsham in 1776,[ and having been promoted to lieutenant-general on 29 August 1777, he was appointed one of the Founder Knights of the ]Order of St. Patrick
The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick is a dormant British order of chivalry associated with Ireland. The Order was created in 1783 by George III of the United Kingdom, King George III at the request of the then Lord Lieutenant of Irelan ...
on 17 March 1783.
Created Marquess of Drogheda in the Peerage of Ireland
The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...
in July 1791 in recognition of the support he had given the Government, Moore was promoted to full general
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
on 12 October 1793. He was appointed one of the joint Postmasters General of Ireland
The Postmasters General of Ireland, held by two people simultaneously, was a new appointment set up as part of the establishment of the Irish Post Office independent from that of Great Britain, by the Act 23, 24 George III in 1784. The post las ...
in 1797. In January 1801, he was made Baron Moore, of Moore Place in the County of Kent, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the ...
.
Moore served as Muster-Master-General in Ireland from May to November 1807 and was promoted to field marshal
Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...
on 17 July 1821, aged 91. He was an important patron of the artist William Ashford. He died in Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
on 22 December 1821 and was buried at St Peter's Church in Drogheda
Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...
.[
]
Family
Moore married Lady Anne Seymour-Conway, the daughter of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford
Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford, KG, PC, PC (Ire) (5 July 1718 – 14 June 1794) of Ragley Hall, Arrow, in Warwickshire, was a British courtier and politician who, briefly, was Viceroy of Ireland where he had substantial ...
, on 15 February 1766. They had eight children, including Charles Moore, 2nd Marquess of Drogheda
Charles Moore, 2nd Marquess of Drogheda (23 August 1770 – 6 February 1837), styled Viscount Moore until 1822, was an Irish peer. He went insane when he was about twenty, and spent the rest of his life at the private asylum at Greatford, Lincolns ...
, Henry, father of the 3rd and last Marquess, Frances, who married John Vandeleur, and Elizabeth, Countess of Westmeath. His wife's family had a tradition of mental illness, which may explain the fact that their elder son went insane in his twenties.[Hyde, p. 157]
References
Sources
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Drogheda, Charles Moore, 1st Marquess Of
1730 births
People from County Louth
Irish soldiers
British field marshals
Drogheda, Charles Moore, 6th Earl of
Moore, Charles Moore, Viscount
Knights of St Patrick
19th-century Irish people
Drogheda, Charles Moore, 6th Earl of
Moore, Charles Moore, Viscount
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
Chief Secretaries for Ireland
Marquesses of Drogheda
Peers of the United Kingdom created by George III
1822 deaths