Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

Charles Moore, 1st Marquess of Drogheda, (29 June 1730 – 22 December 1822) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer and politician. He bore the colours of his regiment at the

Battle of Culloden The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, thereby endi ...

in April 1746 during the

Jacobite rising of 1745 The Jacobite rising of 1745 was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the Monarchy of Great Britain, British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession, when the bulk of t ...

and later commanded the 18th Light Dragoons during operations against the Whiteboys in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. He also sat as Member of Parliament 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 the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

and, having served as Chief Secretary to the

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the K ...

, he went on to become Master-General of the Irish Ordnance.

Early life

Moore was the eldest of six sons and two daughters of Edward Moore, 5th Earl of Drogheda and, his first wife, Lady Sarah Ponsonby.L. G. Pine, ''The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms'' (

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

: Heraldry Today, 1972), page 108. His paternal grandparents were Charles Moore, Lord Moore (a son of Henry Hamilton-Moore, 3rd Earl of Drogheda) and Jane Loftus. His maternal grandparents were the former Sarah Margetson and Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough.

Career

Moore joined the Army in 1744 as a cornet in the 12th Dragoons, and bore the colours at the

in April 1746 during the

Jacobite risings Jacobitism was a political ideology advocating the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British throne. When James II of England chose exile after the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, ...

. He was promoted

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in 1750 and reached the rank of

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in 1752 and the rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel on 18 January 1755. 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 in

which started in 1762. Promoted to major-general on 30 April 1770, Moore became Master-General of the Irish Ordnance and colonel-in-chief of the Royal Irish Artillery in 1770. 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, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

on 17 July 1821, aged 91.

Political career

In 1757 Moore became Member of Parliament for St Canice, holding the seat until he succeeded to his father's titles in 1758.Heathcote, p. 222 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 ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

in January 1759 and lieutenant-colonel commandant of the 19th (later 18th) Light Dragoons on 7 December 1759. He became Chief Secretary to the

in 1763, Governor of Kinsale and Charles Fort in 1765 and a Lord Justice of Ireland in 1766. He was appointed Custos Rotulorum of King's County in 1766 and Custos Rotulorum of Queen's County in 1769, both offices for life. He became Member of Parliament for

Horsham Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

in 1776, and having been promoted to

lieutenant-general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

on 29 August 1777, he was appointed one of the Founder Knights of the Order of St. Patrick on 17 March 1783.

Peerage

Moore succeeded as 6th Earl of Drogheda following the death of his father at sea while travelling from England to Dublin in October 1758. Created Marquess of Drogheda in the

Peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

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 high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

on 12 October 1793. He was appointed one of the joint Postmasters General of Ireland 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.

Personal life

On 15 February 1766, Moore married Lady Anne Seymour-Conway, the daughter of

Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford (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 estates. Background ...

. He commissioned Moore Abbey as his country home in 1767. They had eight children, including:Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

(Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, page 1181. * Charles Moore, 2nd Marquess of Drogheda (1770–1837), an MP for Queen's County from 1790 to 1791 who died unmarried. * Lady Elizabeth Emily Moore (1771–1841), who married

George Nugent, 7th Earl of Westmeath George Frederick Nugent, 7th Earl of Westmeath (18 November 1760 – 30 December 1814), styled Lord Delvin until 1792, was an Irish peer. He gained notoriety in his own lifetime, due to his unhappy first marriage to Maryanne Jeffries, which en ...

. * Hon. Henry Moore (d. 1825), who married Hon. Mary Letitia Parnell, second daughter of Henry Parnell, 1st Baron Congleton, and Lady Caroline Elizabeth Dawson (eldest daughter of the 1st Earl of Portarlington), in 1824. * Lady Mary Moore (d. 1842), who married Alexander Stewart, of Ards, brother of Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry, and second son of Alexander Stewart, in 1791. * Lady Gertrude Moore, who died unmarried. * Lady Frances Moore (d. 1833), who married John Ormsby Vandeleur, in 1800. He was an important patron of the artist William Ashford. Lord Drogheda died in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

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 ...

. His wife's family had a tradition of mental illness, which may explain the fact that their elder son went insane in his twenties.

Descendants

Through his son Henry, he was a grandfather of the Henry Moore, 3rd and last Marquess of Drogheda.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

* {{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 1

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

Peers of the United Kingdom created by George III 1822 deaths Hereditary peers elected to the House of Commons