Thomas Moore (14 April 1618 – 6 August 1695) of Hawkchurch, Dorset was an English politician who sat 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. ...

variously between 1640 and 1685. He supported the Parliamentarian side in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. Moore was the son of Thomas Moore of Lyng Manor, Somerset. In April 1640, Moore was elected

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

Heytesbury Heytesbury is a village (formerly considered to be a town) and a civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village lies on the north bank of the Wylye, about southeast of the town of Warminster. The civil parish includes most of the small neigh ...

in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

. He was re-elected MP for Heytesbury in November 1640 for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

and held the seat until he was excluded under

Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...

in 1648. History of Parliament Online - Moore, Thomas
/ref> In 1660 Moore was elected MP for Heytesbury and

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the Herita ...

and chose to sit for Heytesbury. He was a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for Somerset and Dorset and was appointed

High Sheriff of Dorset The High Sheriff of Dorset is an ancient high sheriff title which has been in existence for over one thousand years. Until 1567 the Sheriff of Somerset was also the Sheriff of Dorset. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government ...

for 1671–72. He was Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset and Somerset from May–October, 1688. Moore was a presbyterian. After the ejection of puritan ministers from their parishes, he often paid the fines of

Richard Alleine Richard Alleine (1610/11 – 22 December 1681) was an English Puritan divine. Life Alleine was born at Ditcheat, Somerset, in 1610 and baptised on the 18 October 1610, (where his father another Richard Alleine, born circa 1585 and died 1656, ...

, the ejected vicar of Batcombe.Richard Alleine (1611–1681)
/ref> Moore died in 1695 at the age of 77 and was buried at Hawkchurch. He had married twice: firstly Bridget, the daughter of Sir Thomas Trenchard of Wolveton, Dorset, and secondly Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir John Bampfield of Poltimore, Devon, with whom he had 3 sons, who all predeceased him, and 7 daughters. His estate was divided between his four sons-in-law. His seat at Hawkchurch passed to Thomas Wyndham, MP for Wilton.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Thomas 1618 births 1695 deaths High Sheriffs of Dorset Deputy Lieutenants of Dorset Deputy Lieutenants of Somerset English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1660 English Presbyterians