Family and Education

b. ?1764, 2nd s. of Lewis Moore of Prospect, Queen’s Co. by w. Margaret. educ. Royal sch. Armagh; Trinity, Dublin 5 Mar. 1781, aged 16; M. Temple 1786, called [I] 1788. m. July 1791, Frances, da. of George Stoney of Greyfort, co. Tipperary, issue.

Offices Held

MP [I] 1798-1800.

KC [I] 1798; third serjeant [I] Oct. 1801, first serjeant July 1805; bencher, King’s Inn 1805; chairman, Kilmainham sessions June 1810; judge of c.p. [I] July 1816-Feb. 1839; PC [I] 1839.

Biography

Moore entered the Irish house of commons in 1798 for Sir Edward Denny’s borough of Tralee and opposed the Union. After his return to Westminster, the Castle noted that he had not taken his seat in March 1801 and labelled him uncertain and inactive, adding ‘never will be in again’. He subsequently took his seat and on 1 June opposed George Ponsonby’s Irish courts regulation bill on behalf of the Irish judiciary, while on 10 June he opposed a proposal to exempt John Beresford* from disqualification ex officio as ‘odious to the people of Ireland’. That autumn, at Lord Kilwarden’s instigation, Moore became third serjeant, described by the chief secretary as ‘an office without emolument, and long vacant and unsolicited; now filled by a very respectable lawyer and MP’.1

The Castle solicited and obtained Moore’s attendance in the ensuing session, when he again objected to the reform of the Irish courts, 27 Apr. 1802, but was one of the two anti-Unionists who ‘remained firm’ against John Foster’s anti-Union tirade of 7 May. On 3 June he was teller for the Irish controverted elections bill, which he supported in a speech a week later. On 17 June Ewan Law* informed his brother in Ireland:

I am extremely happy to observe so much cordiality between your Members and ours; one of the former Mr Serjeant Moore paid the House a very handsome compliment on that head the other day.2

Moore did not seek re-election in 1802, but obtained further promotion in his profession and remained a supporter of administration. In 1811, for instance, he approved the viceroy’s suppression of Catholic meetings. He died 6 Jan. 1846, ‘aged 82’.3

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: Arthur Aspinall

Notes

• 1. Cornwallis Corresp. iii. 67, 164; PRO 30/9/13, pt. 2; Colchester, i. 290.
• 2. Add. 35713, f. 92; PRO 30/12/17/2/30.
• 3. HMC Bathurst, 157; Gent. Mag. (1846), i. 669.