Moore, Robert (1886–1960), farmer, politician, and presbyterian minister, was born 26 September 1886 at Ballymacannon, Ringsend, near Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, son of Kennedy Moore, whose family had farmed in the area for generations, and Mary Elizabeth Moore (née McFetridge). He was educated at Coleraine Academical Institution and QCG, where he was awarded prizes each year for his academic achievements before gaining a literary scholarship in his third year. Having been awarded his BA degree (RUI) Moore went on to McCrea-Magee College in Derry, and in his last year won the Bigger and Goudy scholarships. In 1911 he was licensed by the Coleraine presbytery and in 1912 was ordained minister of Ringsend presbyterian church in succession to his uncle, the Rev. R. J. O. Moore. During the first world war he served for a time as a chaplain with the YMCA in France before returning to his ministry in Ringsend. There he remained in charge until September 1932, when he accepted an invitation from Mosside presbyterian church; but his stay was brief, as Moore was invited to return to Ringsend, and did so in November 1932.
Given Moore's family background he had farming interests, particularly the breeding and exhibiting of Border-Leicester sheep and acting as a judge at many agricultural shows around the north of Ireland. All of this led to his serving as president of the Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) in 1937–8, 1939–40, and 1940–41, as vice-president of the Royal Ulster Agricultural Show, and as member of the executive of the North Derry Agricultural Show. He was also appointed as a member to the Pigs Marketing Board, the Flax Development Committee, and the Agricultural Inquiry Committee.
His political career began unexpectedly at the Stormont general election of February 1938, when at the unionist selection meeting in Derry North he narrowly defeated the sitting unionist MP, Alderman D. H. Christie, to become the party's official candidate. He was subsequently returned unopposed and held the seat until his death. In his early days as a backbench MP he found himself at odds with the then minister of agriculture, Sir Basil Brooke (qv), over the decision to dismiss the Pigs Marketing Board over alleged malpractices by some of its officers. As a member of this body, along with a number of his parliamentary colleagues, Moore strongly attacked the move as an attempt to centralise control over the farming industry. Brooke was at pains to point out that he was not suggesting that Moore and the other MPs had been involved in any wrongdoing, but he refused to grant their appeals for a public inquiry. Instead, amid growing opposition among a number of unionist MPs, the proposal to wind up the board was carried through by the government. Moore's anger was not necessarily aimed at Brooke, whom he continued to count as a close friend, but rather at the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, George Scott Robertson (1893–1948). At one point he even claimed that relations between the ministry and agricultural producers would never be improved until Robertson was replaced.
This dispute was just one of a number of controversial issues that soured affairs between Brooke as minister and the farming sector but once the second world war began these tensions appeared to ease; and for Brooke one of the main reasons was the close relationship that he began to develop with Moore as president of the UFU. This grew to the extent that in January 1941, after his appointment as minister of commerce and production, he recommended to the prime minister, John M. Andrews (qv), that Moore was the ideal person to replace him at agriculture. On this occasion, however, the advice was ignored and the position instead was filled by one of Andrews's most trusted allies, Lord Glentoran (Herbert Dixon (qv)). But this was a temporary setback, as by the spring of 1943 Andrews was coming under increasing pressure from unionist opinion, both inside and outside parliament, to reshape his government. After refusing to do so he was forced to resign amid backbench unease, and was replaced (May 1943) by Brooke, whose cabinet was largely filled with new members such as Moore, who was made minister of agriculture (1943–60). Moore soon proved himself a competent minister, guiding the sector through the remainder of the war years and into the postwar period without provoking much unrest within either the farming community or the ranks of the unionist party.
After several months of ill health he died at his home, Ringsend Manse, Coleraine, on 1 September 1960. He was survived by his wife; they had no children.