George Henry Moore
Encyclopedia
George Henry Moore was an Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 politician who served as Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Mayo
Mayo (UK Parliament constituency)
Mayo was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885.-History :...

 in the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

. He was one of the founders of the Catholic Defence Association
Catholic Defence Association
The Catholic Defence Association was an organisation founded in 1851 by William Keogh, John Sadleir and George Henry Moore to defend the rights of Irish Roman Catholics and tenant farmers.-Other uses:...

 and a leader of the Independent Irish Party
Independent Irish Party
The Independent Irish Party was an Irish political party founded in July 1852 by 40 Liberal Irish MPs who had been elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is sometimes mentioned as the Irish Independent Opposition Party, and colloquially known as the...

. He was also father of the writer George A. Moore and the soldier Maurice George Moore
Maurice George Moore
Maurice George Moore was an Irish soldier, author and politician.Moore was the second of four sons born to George Henry Moore of Moore Hall, County Mayo, and Mary Blake of Ballinafad, County Galway. His elder brother was the writer, George A. Moore.Moore joined the British army in 1874 and saw...

. Their ancestral home, Moore Hall
Moore Hall, County Mayo
Moore Hall, or Moorehall, the house and estate of George Henry Moore and family, is situated in the barony of Carra, County Mayo in a karst limestone landscape. The Moores were an aristocratic Irish family who built Moore Hall between 1792 and 1795. The first Moore of Moore Hall was George Moore,...

 was burned down in 1923 by anti-Treaty
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...

 irregular forces during the Irish Civil War
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....

.

His grandfather Sir John Moore
Sir John Moore
Sir John Moore may refer to:*Sir John Moore, 1st Baronet, British admiral *John Moore , British general...

 had been appointed President of the short lived Republic of Connaught
Republic of Connaught
The Irish Republic, more commonly referred to as the Republic of Connacht, was a short-lived Irish breakaway state established with French Directory military support for 13 days during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.-Proclamation:...

 in the 1798 rebellion by General Humbert at Castlebar
Castlebar
Castlebar is the county town of, and at the centre of, County Mayo in Ireland. It is Mayo's largest town by population. The town's population exploded in the late 1990s, increasing by one-third in just six years, though this massive growth has slowed down greatly in recent years...

.

The Independent Irish party was damaged by weak leaders and by the lack of support its received from the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

. Charles Gavan Duffy
Charles Gavan Duffy
Additional Reading*, Allen & Unwin, 1973.*John Mitchel, A Cause Too Many, Aidan Hegarty, Camlane Press.*Thomas Davis, The Thinker and Teacher, Arthur Griffith, M.H. Gill & Son 1922....

 left in despair and went to Australia. Frederick Lucas
Frederick Lucas
Frederick Lucas was a British religious polemicist and founder of The Tablet. His brother Samuel Lucas was a newspaper editor and abolitionist.-Biography:...

 proved an ineffective leader, while his successor, George Henry Moore, its new leader, having got elected in his Mayo constituency
Mayo (UK Parliament constituency)
Mayo was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885.-History :...

 through clerical help, was defeated by clerical opposition at the 1857 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1857
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* British Electoral Facts 1832-1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher *...

. The party split over an internal row over its oath, and faded into oblivion. Members of the group participated in the meeting of MPs in 1859, which agreed to support the Second Palmerston Government and which is often regarded as the formal foundation of the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

.

Moore contested aggressively against John Sadleir
John Sadleir
John Sadleir was an Irish financier and politician.He entered the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1847 as a Member of Parliament for Carlow...

 and William Keogh
William Keogh
William Keogh PC was an unpopular and controversial Irish politician and judge, whose name became a byword for betraying one's political principles.- Background :...

 former allies and friends whom he disowned, in elections upon many occasions, in various comstituencies wherever they presented themselves, and at some expense after the two treasonably abandoned their prinicples and party to take British Government positions within the Irish administration.

Well known for great kindness toward his tenants during the Irish potato famine Moore purchased them livestock, cows were given to many and much grain was imported in bulk, and George encouraged his tenants to grow alternative crops to the potato. It is well known that through his actions, none of his tenants starved, and neither were any evicted. Full remission for any tenant paying £5 per yer and 75% remission for those paying under £10 per annum were ordered.

In June 1847 a vessel the Martha Washington
Martha Washington
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington is considered to be the first First Lady of the United States...

 was requistioned by Moore, the Marquess of Sligo
Marquess of Sligo
Marquess of Sligo is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1800 for John Browne, 3rd Earl of Altamont. The Marquess holds the subsidiary titles of Baron Mount Eagle, of Westport in the County of Mayo , Viscount Westport, of Westport in the County of Mayo , Earl of Altamont, in the...

 and Sir Robert Lynch-Blosse. The ship was laden 1000 tonnes of flour in New Orleans and discharged at Westport
Westport, County Mayo
Westport is a town in County Mayo, Ireland. It is situated on the west coast at the south-east corner of Clew Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean....

 Mayo
County Mayo
County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...

 and was distributed among their tenants at a combined loss of £4819.0.6d. As the famine got worse he gave grazing lands to the people and placed others directly under his care upon his own estate at Moore Hall
Moore Hall
Moore Hall is a co-ed residence hall at Kansas State University. It is located on the East side of Kansas State's Manhattan, Kansas campus in the North-West corner of the Derby Complex, north of West Hall and west of Haymaker Hall. It is known for its Leadership Studies and Business cluster floors...

.

Speaking out in parliament for the Irish in the famine, Moore declared that "disaster followed every scheme that Lord Trevelyan originated." Also at a meeting in Partry, again against the advice of his mother, he denounced angrily the idea that a few wandering fanatics and vagabond emissaries from England could extinguish the Catholic Church with Indian meal and soup, during the food for conversion schemes that followed in the footsteps of the famine.

He was chairman of two famine relief
Famine relief
Famine relief is an organized effort to reduce starvation in a region in which there is famine. A famine is a phenomenon in which a large proportion of the population of a region or country are so undernourished that death by starvation becomes increasingly common...

 committees, one at Ballintubber and secondly, at Partry
Partry
Partry is a parish in County Mayo, Ireland. Partry is an ideal place for people with an interest in fishing to stay. It is located between Loughs Carra and Mask and is on the N84 between the towns of Castlebar and Ballinrobe....

 both areas full of destitute people, who benefitted from his donations.

By the end of the famine, Moore, along with like minded landowners, were broke. Bankruptcy followed but Moore was able to buy back large tracts of his land. He had fought two scurrilous libels against The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

 regarding the treatment of tenants and his character.

Moore was a keen hunter and horse racer, "noted for his well trained stud of hunters...of reckless courage with which he rode them around Galway". Known as Dog Moore, after his well known horse Wolfdog
Wolfdog
A wolfdog is a canid hybrid resulting from the mating of a wolf and a dog . The term "wolfdog" is preferred by most of the animals' proponents and breeders because the domestic dog recently was taxonomically recategorized as a subspecies of wolf...

 he set up a series of wagers at race meetings including the Grand National
Grand National
The Grand National is a world-famous National Hunt horse race which is held annually at Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, England. It is a handicap chase run over a distance of four miles and 856 yards , with horses jumping thirty fences over two circuits of Aintree's National Course...

, Tuam
Tuam
Tuam is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The name is pronounced choo-um . It is situated west of the midlands of Ireland, and north of Galway city.-History:...

 and Ballinrobe
Ballinrobe
-Early history:Dating back to 1390, Ballinrobe is said to be the oldest town in South Mayo. The registry of the Dominican friary of Athenry mentions the monastery de Roba, an Augustinian friary whose recently restored ruins are one of the historical landmarks of the town today...

. His winnings, offset against betting against his own horses, netted him around £3,000,000 by today's reckoning and these funds helped greatly feed his tenantry. He rode Tinderbox
Tinderbox
A tinderbox is a small container containing flint, firesteel, and tinder , used together to help kindle a fire....

 in the 1845 Grand National
Grand National
The Grand National is a world-famous National Hunt horse race which is held annually at Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, England. It is a handicap chase run over a distance of four miles and 856 yards , with horses jumping thirty fences over two circuits of Aintree's National Course...

 falling at the 10th.

His own brother Augustus, with whom he recklessly hunted, was killed at the 1845 Aintree
Aintree
Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside. It lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, about north of Liverpool city centre, in North West England....

 Grand National
Grand National
The Grand National is a world-famous National Hunt horse race which is held annually at Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, England. It is a handicap chase run over a distance of four miles and 856 yards , with horses jumping thirty fences over two circuits of Aintree's National Course...

 while riding Mickey Free the sire of Fenian
Fenian
The Fenians , both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood , were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic in the 19th and early 20th century. The name "Fenians" was first applied by John O'Mahony to the members of the Irish republican...

 (winner of the Belmont stakes in 1869) and this was said to be the turning point in George's life whereby George gave himself completely to the benefit of the people of his estates.[1]

His other famous steeds were Coranna winner of the Chester Cup
Chester Cup
The Chester Cup is a flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run at Chester over a distance of 2 miles, 2 furlongs and 147 yards , and it is scheduled to take place each year in May....

 in 1846 whose portrait still hangs in the church at Carnacon; after winning with Coranna, George sent £1000 to his tenantry for famine relief
Famine relief
Famine relief is an organized effort to reduce starvation in a region in which there is famine. A famine is a phenomenon in which a large proportion of the population of a region or country are so undernourished that death by starvation becomes increasingly common...

-Croaghpatrick was the winner of the Stewards Cup at Goodwood
Goodwood
- Events :* Goodwood Festival of Speed, a motorsport event in the United Kingdom* Glorious Goodwood, a horseracing event in the United Kingdom* Goodwood Revival, a historical motorsport event in the United Kingdom- Places and structures:in Australia...

 in 1861. A more unusual horse was Faugh a Ballagh
Faugh A Ballagh
Faugh a Ballagh is a battle cry of Irish origin, meaning "clear the way". The spelling is an 18th-century anglicization of the Irish language phrase Fág an Bealach, also written Fág a' Bealach. Its first recorded use as a regimental motto was by the Royal Irish Fusiliers in 1798...

an ex-army steed of the Royal Irish Fusiliers
Royal Irish Fusiliers
The Royal Irish Fusiliers was an Irish infantry regiment of the British Army, formed by the amalgamation of the 87th Regiment of Foot and the 89th Regiment of Foot in 1881. The regiment's first title in 1881 was Princess Victoria's , changed in 1920 to The Royal Irish Fusiliers...

 with whom Moore wagered heavily with. A rather wretched looking mule with knock knees, it was able to clear high walls with little effort from a dawdling run up much to the amazement of everyone who witnessed it.

His own greatest personal feat as a jockey was to win the New Melton stakes at Cahir
Cahir
Cahir is a town in South Tipperary in Ireland. The town is best known for its castle and the Swiss Cottage. It is in the barony of Iffa and Offa West.-Location and access:...

. On land owned by the Marquis of Waterford at Ronscar Moore won on a shelly looking customer the bay gelding, Anonymous
Anonymous
- People :* Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an anonymous, undisclosed, or unknown creator or author* Anonymous IV, a 13th century English student of medieval music theory whose works are a major source for modern scholars of that era...

. This was said to be one of the greatest races ever run in Ireland, and the jumps included high and tall stone walls. The race was talked about for years after.
Both this horse and The Don
The Don
The Don may refer to:* "The Don" * Sir Donald Bradman or The Don, Australian cricketer* Don Johnson, American actor * Don Matthews, Canadian Football League head coach* The Don , a Malayalam film by Shaji Kailas starring Dileep...

, another steeplechaser were killed soon after; the former at Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...

 racecourse in March 1843 and the latter at the Kings County
Kings County
-Canada:*Kings County, New Brunswick*Kings County, Nova Scotia*Kings County, Prince Edward Island and the related King's County -United States of America:*Kings County, California...

 Ofally races, with Moore riding this time, in his familiar blue birdseye jacket. Again Moore swore not to have anything to do with horseracing again after the death of these two beloved mounts, but the promise never held.

Moore also helped in the organisation the construction of a monastery on Lough Mask
Lough Mask
Lough Mask is a limestone lough of 22,000 acres in County Mayo, Ireland, north of Lough Corrib. Lough Mask is the upper of the two lakes, which empty into the Corrib River, through Galway, into Galway Bay. The lake is visited for its trout fishing...

 near Tourmakeady
Tourmakeady
Tuar Mhic Éadaigh is a small village in County Mayo, Ireland. It has a population of about 1000 people. It is located on the shores of Lough Mask. Part of Tourmakeady was originally in neighbouring County Galway, but was placed under the administration of County Mayo in 1898...

 beneath the mountain Tournasala with the cooperation of Archbishop MacHale and the local firebrand of Ballinrobe
Ballinrobe
-Early history:Dating back to 1390, Ballinrobe is said to be the oldest town in South Mayo. The registry of the Dominican friary of Athenry mentions the monastery de Roba, an Augustinian friary whose recently restored ruins are one of the historical landmarks of the town today...

, the Reverend Peter Conway.

In his youth George had been a worry to his parents least of all because of his gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...

 habits, and a failure to conclude a formal private education, preferring to pursue an alternative education in billiards
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...

 at which he became expert, and all the fun that the cities of Bath and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 had to offer a young Georgian
Georgian era
The Georgian era is a period of British history which takes its name from, and is normally defined as spanning the reigns of, the first four Hanoverian kings of Great Britain : George I, George II, George III and George IV...

 era male. However Moore Hall was a teetotal manor, so drinking at least, was off limits as the Moore family never partook of alcohol.

He was a writer of very frank open letters to friends of his mother, and his enemies, of which he gathered many, owing to high temperament, both men and women, including his mother's lady friends, telling them exactly what he thought. In his youth he had travelled the Arab World including Syria.

Moore attempted at least to challenge to a duelling at least two men in his youth; local landowner Joe Mhor MacDonnaill of Doo or Dubh Castle, for insulting George Moore senior, and O'Gorman Mahon who later became a parliamentary member with the Irish party and the oldest member of the house in his day. Both perhaps wisely declined, though the latter later fought in Latin America.

Moore was a member of the Fenian Brotherhood
Fenian Brotherhood
The Fenian Brotherhood was an Irish republican organization founded in the United States in 1858 by John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny. It was a precursor to Clan na Gael, a sister organization to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Members were commonly known as "Fenians"...

 but was a strong advocate of friendship with the Orange Lodge. Among visitors to Moorehall in Mayo
Mayo
- Places :Ireland* County Mayo* Mayo * Mayo * Mayo * Mayo East * Mayo North...

 were O'Donovan Rossa.

On his death, he was succeeded by his brother-in-law, George Ekins Browne
George Ekins Browne
George Ekins Browne was an Irish politician.He was elected in 1870 as a Member of Parliament for Mayo, and was re-elected at the 1874 general election...

.

His oration was read by the Land League priest, Father Lavelle, and his coffin borne to Carnacon
Carnacon
Carnacon is a small village in central County Mayo in Ireland. It is situated about 12 miles from Castlebar, and is about 8 miles from Claremorris and Ballinrobe. The population of Carnacon is estimated at 200 houses.-Background:...

 Church by 16 of his tenants; the poor came from all over Mayo to the funeral mass. The interment took place at Kiltoom.

External links

  • Moorehall and Lough Carra, moorehall.net. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  • http://www.con-telegraph.ie/history/mayo-history/321-famine-and-monastery-in-tourmakeady-
  • http://www.con-telegraph.ie/opinion/melvine/787-ladies-illuminate-ballinrobe
  • http://www.abandonedireland.com/Moorehall.html
  • http://www.con-telegraph.ie/history/mayo-history/398-george-henry-moore-1810-1870

  • An Irish Gentleman-George Henry Moore: Maurice George Moore no existing copyright
  • http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1853/apr/07/consolidated-annuities-ireland#S3V0125P0_18530407_HOC_25
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK