Moore, Sir Charles (1603–43), 2nd Viscount Moore of Drogheda and royalist army commander, was eldest surviving son of Sir Garret Moore (qv), 1st Viscount Drogheda, and his wife Mary (d. 1654), daughter of Sir Henry Colley, of Castle Carberry, Co. Kildare. His grandfather was Sir Edward Moore (qv). In 1627 his father died and he succeeded to the family title and estates, being appointed as a privy counsellor and commissioner for regranting escheated lands in Ulster in 1628. He attended the opening of parliament in July 1634 and was appointed as a member of the lords’ committee on grievances.
He came to prominence during the rebellion of 1641, when he played a significant part in the defence of Drogheda, Co. Louth. After the outbreak of the rebellion, realising that his own castle at Mellifont could not be defended, he raised a troop of sixty horse and went to Drogheda, where he set the townspeople to repairing the defensive walls and also had cannons taken from a cellar and a ship in the harbour and installed in the Mill Mount fort. He then went to Dublin to petition the lords justices for help; during his absence the town's governor, Sir Faithful Fortescue (qv), resigned his commission and fled. Fortescue was replaced by Sir Henry Tichborne (qv), who arrived in Drogheda in November 1641 with a force of around 1,100 men. By the end of November the town was surrounded and Moore played an active part in its defence, leading several attacks on the besiegers’ positions. He led a final sally on 5 March 1642, which compelled the rebel force to abandon the siege.
He took part in the campaign to recapture Dundalk, which fell on 26 March 1642, and replaced Tichborne as the governor at Drogheda. Using Drogheda as his base, he led a series of raids against the rebel forces in Co. Meath, defeating a large force near Ardee and Navan, before capturing the fort at Siddan in August 1642. He was a staunch royalist and Charles I signed letters patent appointing him governor of Co. Louth and of the barony of Slane. The lords justices of Ireland, who were divided in their political loyalties, refused to ratify this appointment, but in January 1643 Moore was appointed by the king as a commissioner to hear the grievances of the catholic confederation. In March 1643 he went with Lord Roscommon and Lord Clanricarde (qv) to Trim, where they received the confederation's statement, or ‘remonstrance’, which was forwarded to the king.
He continued to take military action against the confederate army, and in April 1643 led a foraging expedition into Co. Louth and Co. Cavan. Throughout this expedition his force was harassed by the cavalry of Owen Roe O'Neill (qv); while O'Neill refused to become embroiled in a full engagement, Moore was forced to withdraw to Drogheda without gathering the much-needed supplies. In August 1643 he led a force of around 1,000 men out of Drogheda towards Athboy, which was being threatened by O'Neill. This move was part of a larger strategy and it was hoped that O'Neill's army would be caught between Moore's force and two other forces led by Col. George Monck (qv) and the marquis of Ormond (qv). On 7 August 1643 Moore attacked O'Neill's army, which was in prepared positions at Portlester ford, near Trim, Co. Meath. An attack on a fortified mill building and then an advance up a sunken laneway both failed, his army suffering heavy casualties. Moore was in the process of organising another attack when he was struck by a cannonball and killed. According to many accounts, O'Neill himself had laid and fired the cannon which killed him. Moore's remains were returned to Drogheda and buried in St Peter's church.
He married Alice, daughter of Sir Adam Loftus (qv); they had five sons and four daughters. Soon after her husband's death she was implicated in a conspiracy to surrender Drogheda and Dundalk to the parliamentarians. She was imprisoned in Dublin Castle but later released. On 10 June 1649 she broke her leg in a fall from a horse, and died three days later. She was buried beside her husband in St Peter's. Their eldest son, Henry Moore (d. 1675), succeeded as 3rd Viscount Drogheda and was created earl of Drogheda in June 1661, after the restoration of Charles II.