George Henry Moore (politician) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
George Henry Moore
|
|
|---|---|
_(Cropped).jpg) |
|
| Born | 1 March 1810 County Mayo, Ireland
|
| Died | 19 April 1870 (aged 60) Moore Hall, County Mayo, Ireland
|
| Resting place | Kiltoom, Moore Hall, County Mayo. |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Known for | Politician, landowner, tenant-right activist |
| Office | Member of Parliament for County Mayo, 1847-1857, 1868-1870 |
| Movement | Catholic Defence Association, Tenant Right League |
| Children | George Augustus Maurice George Nina Henry Augustus |
| Parent(s) | George Moore and Louisa Browne |
| Relatives | John Moore (uncle) |
George Henry Moore (born March 1, 1810 – died April 19, 1870) was an important Irish politician. He helped start groups like the Tenant Right League and the Catholic Defence Association in the 1850s. He was also a Member of Parliament (MP) for Mayo in the United Kingdom Parliament. There, he helped create the Independent Irish Party.
George Henry Moore strongly supported the rights of farmers who rented land. He was also known for helping people during the terrible Great Famine. However, by the time he died in 1870, he was also protecting his own rights as a landowner against a secret group called the Ribbonmen.
Contents
George Henry Moore's Family History
George Henry Moore was born on March 1, 1810, at Moore Hall in County Mayo, Ireland. He was the oldest of three sons. His mother was Louisa Moore, and his father was George Moore, a landowner and historian.
His family, the Moores, were originally English Protestants. But they became Catholic when George's grandfather, John Moore, married a Roman Catholic woman. Later, George's father also married an Irish-Spanish Catholic.
An interesting family fact: during the Irish Rebellion of 1798, George's uncle, John Moore, was briefly named President of Connaught by the French.
Early Life and Horse Racing
George Moore went to a Catholic school in England called St Mary's in Oscott. Later, he attended Christ's College, Cambridge in 1827. Because he was Catholic, he could not get a degree at that time. He spent a lot of his time betting and playing billiards.
In 1830, he was sent to London to study law. But he got into a lot of debt from betting. So, he was called back home to manage his family's large estate, which was about 12,000 acres.
From 1834, George traveled a lot, visiting places like Russia, Syria, and Palestine. When his father died in 1840, he returned to Mayo. There, he started a very successful horse racing stable.
In 1845, his brother Augustus was killed while riding in a race at Aintree. Before selling his horses, George made one last big bet. He won £10,000 on his own horse in the 1846 Chester Cup. He used some of these winnings to help people during the Irish famine.
Helping During the Famine
The Great Famine (1845-1852) hit County Mayo very hard. Many people suffered from starvation and illness. However, none of George Moore's tenants (people who rented land from him) starved or were forced off their land. He even won two court cases against The Times newspaper, which had wrongly criticized how he treated his tenants.
Moore lowered the rents for his tenants. He completely cancelled rent for those paying £5 a year. He cut rent by 75% for those paying under £10 a year. He also worked with others, like the Marquess of Sligo, to bring 1,000 tonnes of flour from the United States. They sold this flour to tenants at half price.
As the famine got worse, Moore allowed people to use his grazing lands. He also took many people directly under his care on his own estate at Moore Hall. Because of all his help, his estate slowly went into debt. In 1854, he had to sell half of his property for £5,900.
A Politician for Catholic and Tenant Rights
In the 1847 election, George Moore successfully ran for Parliament in Mayo. He won his seat with 504 votes. He tried to get other politicians to oppose the government's hands-off approach to the famine, but he was not successful.
In 1851, Moore became a main speaker in Parliament for Irish Catholics. He spoke out against the Ecclesiastical Titles Act. This law tried to stop the Roman Catholic Church from setting up its own bishops in the United Kingdom. Moore was a close friend of Archbishop John MacHale. Moore played a key role in starting the Catholic Defence Association (CDA) in August 1851.
Moore also worked with Charles Gavan Duffy, who edited The Nation newspaper. They brought together tenant protection groups from the south (mostly Catholic) and tenant-right groups from the north (mostly Presbyterian). This led to the creation of the Tenant Right League. In the 1852 election, Moore was one of 48 MPs who won with the League's support.
These MPs formed the Independent Irish Party. They promised not to support any government that did not help tenant rights and remove the Ecclesiastical Titles Act. However, some of his colleagues later broke this promise.
Moore continued to push for his "independent opposition" policy. He used his influence as chairman of the Tenant League in 1856. He also tried to convince William Smith O'Brien to return to Irish politics and lead the independent party, but he was not successful.
In 1857, Moore lost his seat in Parliament. His opponents claimed that his election was won unfairly due to too much influence from Catholic priests. They said priests used "spiritual intimidation" to get people to vote for him. Moore was one of several Irish MPs who lost their seats this way.
Moore did not support other political groups that did not follow his independent policy. Instead, with the support of Archbishop MacHale, he ran for Parliament again in Mayo in 1868. He ran as a Liberal, promising to support tenant rights and freedom for Fenian prisoners. Moore also started talking regularly with some leaders of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He hoped to form a new political movement by working with them and other moderate republicans.
A Landowner Under Pressure
George Moore died on April 19, 1870, at Moore Hall. He had left his family in London just four days before. His son Maurice later said that his father came home not to discuss a Home Rule bill, as newspapers reported. Instead, it was because of pressure from local Ribbonmen on him and his tenants.
A few months earlier, Moore had received a note in red ink. It was being sent to tenants on his Ballintubber estate. The note warned people not to pay rents higher than a certain value, or they would face consequences. It was signed "Rory."
Moore was angry that his public support for farmers' rights seemed to mean so little. He had recently argued in Parliament that a new law, Gladstone's Landlord and Tenant Act, did not do enough to protect tenants. He believed landlords could still force out old or sick tenants by raising rents too much. During and after the famine, many landlords in Mayo had cleared out their tenants to create grazing farms.
Moore believed the Ribbonmen were trying to blackmail him. He wrote to the local priest, Father Patrick Lavelle. Moore stated that even though he was an MP who supported tenants, he would not give up his rights as a landlord. He said he would not be scared and would evict any tenant who did not pay rent. He asked Father Lavelle to help by talking to the Ribbonmen.
Death and Legacy
Moore returned to Ireland for Easter in 1870. He arrived on Good Friday. On Sunday, he went to Easter Mass. But on Monday, he became ill and went to bed. He died the next afternoon from a stroke. Father Lavelle gave him his last rites.
In 1851, Moore had married Mary Blake. They had five children. These included the famous writer George Augustus Moore and the soldier and senator Maurice Moore. The family's old home, Moore Hall, was burned down in 1923 during the Irish Civil War.
