Biographies A-Z

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Moore, Brian

Moore, Brian (1921–99), novelist, was born 25 August 1921 at 11 Clifton Street, on a Belfast sectarian faultline; he was the fourth of nine surviving children of Dr James Bernard Moore, surgeon, and his wife Eileen (née MacFadden) a former nurse from Gweedore. (…

Moore, Butch (James Augustine)

Moore, Butch (James Augustine) (1938–2001), singer and musician, was born 10 January 1938 in Dublin, one of four sons and one daughter of Thomas Moore, of 538 North Circular Road, a parliamentary usher in Leinster House who rose to become head usher, and Nora Moore (née Fay). Educated…

Moore, Charles

Moore, Charles (1730–1822), 1st marquess of Drogheda, chief secretary for Ireland, and politician, was born 29 June 1730, second son of Edward, 5th earl of Drogheda, and his first wife, Sarah, daughter of Brabazon Ponsonby (qv), 1st earl…

Moore, Charles

Moore, Charles (1820–1905), botanist and horticulturist, was born 10 May 1820 in Dundee, Scotland, son of Charles Moir, gardener, and Helen Moir (née Rattray). Of their nine children only seven survived infancy, one daughter and six sons. In 1830 the Moir family changed their name…

Moore, Christopher

Moore, Christopher (1790–1863), sculptor, was born in Dublin; no details of his family are known. He is first recorded as an artist in Dublin in 1819, when he exhibited at the Society of Artists on Hawkins St. his marble group ‘The combat between the archangel Michael and Satan’.…

Moore, David

Moore, David (1808–79), botanist and horticulturist, was born 23 April 1808 in Dundee, Scotland, eldest son of Charles Moir, gardener, and Helen Moir (née Rattray). Of their nine children only seven survived infancy, one daughter and six sons. In 1830 the Moir family changed their…

Moore, Dorothy (née King; other married name Dury)

Moore, Dorothy (née King; other married name Dury) (1612/13–1664), woman of letters, was born into the New English ruling class in Ireland, one of nine children of…

Moore, Frank Frankfort

Moore, Frank Frankfort (1855–1931), journalist and author, was born 15 May 1855 in Limerick, son of a successful Belfast jeweller. His family (of whom nothing else is known) moved to Belfast, where he was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. Hearing…

Moore, Garret

Moore, Garret (d. 1706?), soldier and politician, is said to have been born in 1600, but a later date is probable. He was the eldest son of Garret Moore, of Cloghan, King's Co., while his mother's name is unknown. His grandfather John Moore (d. 1631) was a landowner in Galway…

Moore, Garrett (‘Garry’)

Moore, Garrett (‘Garry’) (c.1850–1908), jockey and trainer, was born in Eyrecourt, Co. Galway. Nothing is known of his mother or of siblings other than his younger brother Willie (below), but his father, John Hubert Moore (1819–1904), a native of Shannongrove, Co. Galway,…

Moore, Gary

Moore, Gary (1952–2011), rock musician, was born Robert William Gary Moore on 4 April 1952 near the Stormont estate off the Upper Newtownards Road in east Belfast, one of five children of Bobby Moore, a ballroom manager, and his wife Winnie. His father ran the Queen's Hall ballroom in…

Moore, George Augustus

Moore, George Augustus (1852–1933), novelist, critic, memoirist, and cultural activist, was born 24 February 1852 at Moore Hall, Ballyglass, in Co. Mayo, a ‘big house’ in the Anglo-Irish style, built by his grandfather (another George Moore) in 1792 with money accumulated in the Spanish…

Moore, George Henry

Moore, George Henry (1810–70), politician, landowner, and horse-trainer, was born 1 March 1810 in Moore Hall, Ballyglass, Co. Mayo, eldest among three sons of George Moore (1770–1840), landlord and historian, and Louisa Moore (née Browne), granddaughter of the 1st earl of Altamont…

Moore, Georgina (Sister Mary Clare)

Moore, Georgina (Sister Mary Clare) (1814–74), Sister of Mercy, foundress, Crimean war nurse, and teacher, was born 20 March 1814 in the Church of Ireland parish of St Ann's, Dublin, youngest among three children (one son and two daughters) of George and Catherine Moore, both…

Moore, Henry

Moore, Henry (1751–1844), methodist minister and biographer, was born 21 December 1751 in Drumcondra, Dublin, second child and only son among five children of Richard Moore, a wealthy Church of Ireland farmer, who died young in 1763. A marriage in 1746 between a Richard Moore and…

Moore, Henry Francis

Moore, Henry Francis (1887–1954), doctor, was born 4 June 1887 in Cappoquin, Co. Waterford, younger son among two sons and one daughter of James Moore, a civil engineer engaged in railway construction in Peru before returning to Ireland suffering from tuberculosis, and his wife (…

Moore, Henry Francis Seymour

Moore, Henry Francis Seymour (1825–92), 3rd marquess of Drogheda , senior steward of the Irish Turf Club, and Curragh ranger, was born 14 August 1825 in Bath, Somerset, only son of Henry Seymour (d. 1825), and his wife Mary Letitia (d. 1881), second daughter of Sir…

Moore, James

Moore, James (1819–83), surgeon and artist, was born March 1819 in Belfast, son of David Moore, RN (who was appointed fleet surgeon by Nelson (1803) as a reward for distinguished service, and later practised in Belfast), and Margarita Moore (née…

Moore, Joe

Moore, Joe (1908–89), businessman, was born in Mountrath, Co. Laois, on 16 November 1908, the son of Edward Moore, farmer, of Mountrath, and his wife Elizabeth (née Dunne). Bad eyesight precluded him from playing his favourite sport of hurling, so he organised teams instead. Attending…

Moore, John

Moore, John (1767–99), ‘president of the government of Connacht’, was the third of seven children born in Alicante, Spain, to George Moore (1729–99), merchant, of Ashbrook and Moore Hall, Co. Mayo, and Alicante, and Catherine de Killikelly of Lydican Castle, near Gort, Co. Galway…

Moore, Kieron

Moore, Kieron (1924–2007), actor and catholic activist, was born Ciarán Ó hAnnracháin in Skibbereen, Co. Cork, on 5 October 1924, one of four sons and two daughters of the Gaelic Leaguer and political activist Peadar Ó hAnnracháin (1873–1965) and his wife Máire Ní Dheasúna (Desmond) (…

Moore, Margaret Jane (‘Mrs Mason’)

Moore, Margaret Jane (‘Mrs Mason’) (1772–1835), Countess Mount Cashell and writer, was born 24 October 1772 in Dublin at the Henrietta St. residence of her parents; she was the eldest daughter of Robert King , Viscount Kingsborough (qv),…

Moore, Marie (née Gilmore)

Moore, Marie (née Gilmore) (1936–2009), republican activist, was born in Cawnpore Street in the Clonard area of west Belfast in May 1936, elder of two children of Peter Gilmore, tram driver, and his wife Nora (née O'Brien). On 5 April 1942, the five-year-old Marie was visiting her…

Moore, Maurice George

Moore, Maurice George (1854–1939), soldier and politician, was born 10 August 1854 at Moore Hall, Ballyglass, Co. Mayo, second child among four sons and one daughter of George Henry Moore (qv), MP for Mayo and leader of the tenant…

Moore, Michael

Moore, Michael (c.1639–1726), priest, philosopher and educationist, was born in Bridge St., Dublin, son of Andrew Moore and Mary Moore (née Dowdall) of Mountown (Monktown, Co. Meath). In the 1650s Moore travelled to Nantes, where he received an education in the humanities…