Francis Moore (baptized 1708, died in or after 1756) was a British travel writer of the 18th century. Moore was born in

Worcester, England Worcester ( ) is a cathedral city in Worcestershire, England, of which it is the county town. It is south-west of Birmingham, north-west of London, north of Gloucester and north-east of Hereford. The population was 103,872 in the 2021 Census ...

, but few details are known about his early life. He came into prominence after publishing ''Travels into the Inland Parts of Africa'' in 1738. The

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

Thomas Clarkson Thomas Clarkson (28 March 1760 – 26 September 1846) was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. He helped found The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (also known ...

attributed his commitment to the anti-slavery cause to reading the few experts on Africa of the time, including Moore.

Account of Africa

Moore was appointed a writer (i.e., clerk) by the

Royal African Company The Royal African Company (RAC) was an English mercantile (trade, trading) company set up in 1660 by the royal House of Stuart, Stuart family and City of London merchants to trade along the West Africa, west coast of Africa. It was led by the J ...

in 1730 and sailed for the company's

Gambia River The Gambia River (formerly known as the River Gambra) is a major river in West Africa, running from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul. It is navigable f ...

entrepôt An ''entrepôt'' (; ) or transshipment port is a port, city, or trading post where merchandise may be imported, stored, or traded, usually to be exported again. Such cities often sprang up and such ports and trading posts often developed into co ...

on July of that year. He left the region in April 1735 after also serving as a

factor (agent) A factor is a type of trader who receives and sells goods on commission, called factorage. A factor is a mercantile fiduciary transacting business in his own name and not disclosing his principal. A factor differs from a commission merchant i ...

for the company. Moore was one of the first Englishmen to travel into the interior of Africa, serving in and visiting numerous towns and trading posts along the Gambia River from its mouth to the

Guinea Highlands The Guinea Highlands is a densely forested mountainous plateau extending from central Guinea through northern Sierra Leone and Liberia to western Ivory Coast. The highlands include a number of mountains, ranges and plateaus, including the Fouta ...

, hundreds of miles inland. Moore's observations were published as ''Travels Into the Inland Parts of Africa''. The short account describes in rich detail the physical and cultural geography of the region before the intensification of the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

and the resulting depopulation and economic disintegration. Moore's work and Richard Jobson's ''The Golden Trade'' were the only detailed accounts of

Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

before the colonial period. Excerpts from ''Travels Into the Inland Parts of Africa'' were published in several subsequent volumes on exploration and the slave trade, including

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

et al., ''The World Displayed'' (1740);

Thomas Astley Thomas Astley (died 1759) was a bookseller and publisher in London in the 18th century. He ran his business from Saint Paul's Churchyard (circa 1726-1742) and Paternoster Row (circa 1745). He belonged to the Company of Stationers. He published th ...

’s ''A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels'' (1745); and Elizabeth Donnan’s ''Documents Illustrative of the Slave Trade to America'' (1931).

Association with Job ben Solomon

Moore related the saga of Job ben Solomon, also known as Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, in ''Travels Into the Inland Parts of Africa''. Job was an African aristocrat taken by slavers in 1730 in an incident recorded by Moore. He was enslaved in Maryland until 1733, when he was sent to England after

James Oglethorpe James Edward Oglethorpe (22 December 1696 – 30 June 1785) was a British soldier, Member of Parliament, and philanthropist, as well as the founder of the colony of Georgia in what was then British America. As a social reformer, he hoped to re ...

received a letter from him and purchased his freedom. After becoming well-known and respected in London society, Job returned to the Gambia, where he became re-acquainted with Moore.

Account of the Georgia Colony

Moore sailed to the

Province of Georgia A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outs ...

in November 1735, only four months after returning to England from Gambia, with

and over 200 colonists. It was a return trip for Oglethorpe, who had founded the colony in February 1733. Among those also on the voyage were newly ordained brothers

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

and

Charles Wesley Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include " And Can It Be", " Christ the Lord Is Risen ...

. Moore served as Oglethorpe's secretary, and as storekeeper at

Fort Frederica A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

on the southern frontier of the Georgia colony. He served in the colony until 1743, visiting his homeland once before permanently returning to England the same year as Oglethorpe. Moore’s early observations in the colony were published under the title ''A Voyage to Georgia''. The account contains some of the most detailed information available on the

Oglethorpe Plan The Oglethorpe Plan is an urban planning idea that was most notably used in Savannah, Georgia, one of the Thirteen Colonies, in the 18th century. The plan uses a distinctive street network with repeating squares of residential blocks, commercial ...

and its implementation. Moore’s account of Georgia is silent on Oglethorpe’s emerging anti-slavery position; however, it seems likely that the two men discussed Africa and the slave trade at length, and this may have informed the latter’s views.Wilson, T. D., 65-66, 72-73.

References

Bibliography

*"Francis Moore." ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' online edition (accessed March 9, 2016). *Grant, Douglas. ''The Fortunate Slave''. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1968. *Hill, Matthew H. "Towards a Chronology of the Publications of Francis Moore’s ''Travels into the Inland Parts of Africa.''" ''History in Africa''. 19 (1992): 353-68. *Moore, Francis. ''A Voyage to Georgia''. London: Jacob Robinson, 1744. *Moore, Francis. ''Travels Into the Inland Parts of Africa''. Second Edition. London: D. Henry and R. Cave, 1738. *Wilson, Thomas D. ''The Oglethorpe Plan: Enlightenment Design in Savannah and Beyond''. Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Press, 2012.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Francis 18th-century births 1708 births Year of death uncertain 18th-century English writers 18th-century English male writers Writers from Worcester, England Explorers of Africa