Charles Moore, 2nd Viscount Moore of Drogheda

Charles Moore, 2nd Viscount Moore of Drogheda (1603-1643) was an Irish aristocrat noted for his leadership of Irish Royalist forces in northern Leinster during the early stages of the Irish Confederate Wars.

Charles Moore, 2nd Viscount Moore of Drogheda
Born	1603 Kingdom of Ireland
Died	7 August 1643 Portlester, Meath, Ireland
Cause of death	Killed in battle
Nationality	Irish
Occupation	Politician, soldier
Predecessor	Garret Moore, 1st Viscount Moore
Successor	Henry Moore, 1st Earl of Drogheda
Spouse(s)	Alice Loftus

Background

He was the third but eldest surviving son of Garret Moore, 1st Viscount Moore, a landowner in County Louth with connections with many prominent Old English families of The Pale. Moore was a Protestant, unlike many of his relatives who remained Catholic. Moore had helped broker the Treaty of Mellifont in 1603, which brought an end to Tyrone's Rebellion. When Garret died in 1627, his Viscountcy and estates including Mellifont Abbey passed to his eldest son Charles. Charles's mother was Mary Colley, daughter of Sir Henry Colley of Castle Carbury: her brother, Henry Colley, Jr., was the direct ancestor of the Duke of Wellington. Charles married Alice Loftus, younger daughter of Adam Loftus, 1st Viscount Loftus and Sarah Bathow Meredith, by whom he had at least four surviving children.

Irish Rebellion

Following the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion, Moore's house at Mellifont was captured on 21 November 1641 as a prelude to the rebels' Siege of Drogheda.[1] Moore was one of the leaders of a relief force from Dublin that lifted the siege in March 1642.

In 1643 Moore commanded troops from Dublin sent to resist an advance into Leinster by the Ulster Army of the Irish Confederates commanded by Owen Roe O'Neill. On 7 August Moore confronted O'Neill at the Battle of Portlester in County Meath. During the fighting he was killed by an artillery shot, said by some accounts to have been personally aimed and fired by his opponent O'Neill. [2] Following Moore's death, the Protestant forces retreated with his body. O'Neill was unable to follow up his success by advancing towards Dublin.[3]

His unusual death was the inspiration for a similar scene in the 1645 play, Cola's Furie by Henry Burkhead.[4] Moore was succeeded by his son, Henry who was made Earl of Drogheda by Charles II following the Restoration.

References

1. Perceval-Maxwell p.222
2. Dunlop 1894.
3. Casway p.87-88
4. Randall p.92

Sources

• Casway, Jerrold I. Owen Roe O'Neill and the Struggle for Catholic Ireland. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Dunlop, Robert (1894). "Moore, Charles (1603-1643)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 38. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Perceval-Maxwell, Michael. Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641. McGill-Queen's Press, 1994.
• Randall, Dale. Winter Fruit: English Drama, 1642-1660. University Press of Kentucky. 1995.
• Kelsey, Sean (2004). "Moore, Charles, second Viscount Moore of Drogheda (1603–1643)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19098. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)