Henry Moor (1809 – 12 May 1877) was a British lawyer and politician who served as the second

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of Melbourne, Australia and 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 ...

for

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

in England.

Early life

Moor was born in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, Kent, England. He was Educated at Rev. Charles Parr Burney's school in the town. He was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

on 12 November 1831, and from 1832 until 1841 he had a legal partnership with John Simpson at

Furnival's Inn Furnival's Inn was an Inn of Chancery which formerly stood on the site of the present Holborn Bars building (the former Prudential Assurance Company building) in Holborn, London, England. History Furnival's Inn was founded about 1383 when Wil ...

, London.

Melbourne 1842–1854

In 1842 Moor emigrated to Australia, arriving in Melbourne in February. He continued his legal work, initially as a

conveyancer In most Commonwealth countries, a conveyancer is a specialist lawyer who specialises in the legal aspects of buying and selling real property, or conveyancing. A conveyancer can also be (but need not be) a solicitor, licensed conveyancer, or a fe ...

, before being admitted as attorney, solicitor and proctor in the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court i ...

in April 1843. He established a successful legal practice and rose to become

chief magistrate Chief magistrate is a public official, executive or judicial, whose office is the highest in its class. Historically, the two different meanings of magistrate have often overlapped and refer to, as the case may be, to a major political and admini ...

of New South Wales. Moor was elected to Melbourne Town Council to represent Bourke

Ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

, and served as the town's second mayor from 1844 to 1845. His second mayoral term followed from 1846 to 1847, with Melbourne achieving city status in the latter year. A new

Anglican Diocese of Melbourne The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne is the metropolitan diocese of the Province of Victoria in the Anglican Church of Australia. The diocese was founded from the Diocese of Australia by letters patent of 25 June 1847New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

for the

Electoral district of Port Phillip The Electoral district of Port Phillip was an electorate of the New South Wales Legislative Council before it became the separate colony of Victoria (Australia) on 1 July 1851. At the time, some members of the Council were elected and the balanc ...

. In 1851 the

Port Phillip District The Port Phillip District was an administrative division of the Colony of New South Wales from 9 September 1836 until 1 July 1851, when it was separated from New South Wales and became the Colony of Victoria. In September 1836, NSW Colonial Sec ...

, including Melbourne, was removed from New South Wales to become the new Colony of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. From January 1852 to December 1853 Moor was in England, and he finally returned permanently in March 1854, settling in the resort town of

on the south coast.

Brighton 1854–1877

Moor became a well-known figure in Brighton. When one of the town's sitting members of parliament, Admiral Sir George Brooke-Pechell, died in 1860 the local

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

organisation nominated him as candidate in the ensuing by-election. Moor was defeated in a straight fight with the

Radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

candidate James White, securing 1,229 votes against White's 1,565. Four years later a further by-election was held when Brighton's other MP,

William Coningham William Coningham (1815 – 20 December 1884) was a British Liberal politician and art collector. Early life and family Born in Penzance, he was the son of the Rev. Robert Coningham, a clergyman from County Londonderry, and his wife Louisa née ...

, resigned. Moor was again a candidate, and although supported by the Conservative Party declared himself to be going forward on "independent principles" and claimed to be "bound by no party and no political club". Moor described himself as a "Liberal Conservative" and found himself facing no fewer than three Liberal candidates and one independent. Benefitting from this split vote, Moor was duly elected with a majority of 181 votes over his nearest rival, Henry Fawcett. His time in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

was to be brief. A

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

was held in 1865, and Moor was one of three candidates seeking the two Brighton seats. The two other candidates were the sitting MP James White and his opponent of the previous year, Henry Fawcett. Moor was defeated, winning 2,134 votes with White securing 3,065 and Fawcett 2,665. He made an attempt to regain the seat at the 1868 general election, but failed to be elected, coming last of six candidates. Moor retired from politics and continued to reside in Brighton. He died in May 1877 while visiting

Teddington Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long m ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, aged 68.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moor, Henry 1809 births 1877 deaths Mayors and Lord Mayors of Melbourne Members of Lincoln's Inn UK MPs 1859–1865 Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People from Greenwich Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council