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 of Bessborough. Educated at home, he joined the army at 14, and by 1750 had been promoted to captain, although he never saw active service. His older brother, Henry, died in 1752, and Charles became heir to the title, and more involved in Irish politics. Entering the house of commons, he was briefly MP for St Canice, Co. Kilkenny (1757–8), sworn on 11 October 1757, and nominated to nineteen committees, but vacated his seat on the death of his father (28 October 1758). Entering the house of lords, he became grand master of the freemasons (1758–60), governor of Co. Meath (1759), and a privy councillor (1760). Appointed colonel (1762–1821) of the 18th Light Dragoons, later the 18th Hussars, he was active in suppressing Whiteboy disturbances in the countryside in the early part of the 1760s.
On 3 July 1764 he was appointed chief secretary to the earl of Northumberland, a surprising choice considering he sat in the lords but was expected to manage the house of commons. He resigned 4 June 1765 and immediately began pressing to become an Irish marquess, but George III was unwilling to countenance his promotion in the peerage. He married (15 February 1766) Anne Seymour-Conway, daughter of Francis, 1st marquess of Hertford (qv), lord lieutenant of Ireland, and he was temporarily a lord justice of Ireland (1766–7) during the absence of his father-in-law. Though he was an enthusiastic gambler, he lost more often than he won. His drinking, together with his other leisure pursuits, soon created many difficulties, and his health failed as his fortune dwindled. Appointed master-general of the ordnance (1770–97), he took a leave of absence in the late 1770s because of ill-health. In 1776 he entered the British house of commons as MP for Horsham, but attended few debates and vacated the seat four years later. On 17 March 1783 he was created a knight of the order of St Patrick, one of the original fifteen selected. He finally achieved his long-desired objective when he was created marquess of Drogheda, in the peerage of Ireland, on 5 July 1791. No longer a significant figure in Irish politics, he supported the act of union (1800), but his influence was negligible. Nevertheless he received one of the first peerages of the new United Kingdom, becoming Baron Moore of Moore Place, in Kent, on 17 January 1801.
An eccentric character, in his final years he was virtually bankrupt and lived on an annual allowance granted to him by his creditors. He died 22 December 1822 at Sackville St., Dublin, and was buried in St Peter's, Drogheda. He had two sons and seven daughters; his eldest son, Edward (1770–1837), succeeded as 2nd marquess of Drogheda, but died unmarried having been insane for most of his life.