Mayo People
Senator Maurice Moore (1854-1939)
Passing of Senator Maurice Moore, (obituary taken from The Connaught Telegraph, Sept., 16th, 1939)
Senator Maurice Moore died, at the age of 85, at his residence in Dublin on September 8th, 1939. He had been in failing health for some time but attended the last session of the Seanad before the house was recalled for the recent emergence setting. His passing removed a link with Irish Nationalism going back to the great days of Daniel O’Connell and Repeal.
His father was the famous George Henry Moore, the landholder who succoured the people of Mayo in the famine years and who became the first leader of a genuinely Irish party in the English House of Commons. After he had been dispossessed of his seat, George Henry Moore, in vain, sought to raise an Irish volunteer force and, in 1888, when he was again an M.P., he cooperated with Isaac Butt in vehemently assailing oppression, and was taunted with being ‘an associate of the Fenians’
His son Maurice was to take a leading part in a new generation in the establishment of a volunteer movement whose members strengthened the body which successfully asserted, in arms, Ireland’s claim to independence. In the more recent phases of national advancement, Maurice Moore took a prominent pace. He was one of the first to deny the validity of the British Treasury’s claim to the Irish land annuities and he pressed the case long before the issue developed into the economic struggle which resulted in its vindication.
NOTED PAMPHLET
His pamphlet “The Financial Relations between Ireland and Britain”, was a contribution of first importance to this international controversy.
The family are noted in Anglo-Irish letters as well as in nationalist history. He was brother of George Moore, the novelist and essayist, who died three years ago, and his own contributions to literature included a charming memoir of his father, some historical studies, and a history of the latter day volunteer movement which aroused great interest as well as some controversy when it was serialised in the “Irish Press” some years ago and which was also published in Irish by An Gum.
Maurice Moore was born in Moore Hall, Ballyglass in 1854. He was educated locally and in England, and from Sandhurst College entered on an Army career. He served with the Connaught Rangers, which he joined in 1875, in the Kaffir and Zulu campaigns, receiving special mention for bravery and during the Boer War he was in command of a battalion of the regiment. Important engagements in which he took part were the battle of Colenso and Spion Kop. He raised a special column which operated in the Orange River colony. When hostilities ended he became acquainted with many of the Boer leaders and in after-life he was proud of the friendship of the men against whom he had fought with a gallantry and chivalry which they were first to acknowledge.
Back from his campaigning, Maurice Moore lent his aid to the Gaelic League and the more advanced national movement. He took a keen interest in ruraldevelopment and the spread of the co-operative movement.
Taken fromThe Connaught Telegraph, September, 16th, 1939
Contact Information:
Ivor Hamrock, Local History Department, Castlebar Central Library, John Moore Rd, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.Email: ihamrock@mayococo.ie Phone: +353 (0)94 9047953