Charles Moore, 1st Marquess of Drogheda

Field Marshal Charles Moore, 1st Marquess of Drogheda KP, PC (Ire) (29 June 1730 – 22 December 1822 ) was a British peer and military officer, styled Viscount Moore from 1752 until 28 October 1758, when he succeeded as 6th Earl of Drogheda following the death of his father Edward Moore at sea while travelling from England to Dublin. His mother Sarah was a daughter of Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough.

Military career
Moore joined the Army in 1744 as a cornet in the 12th Dragoons, and bore the colours at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In 1750 he was promoted captain, and reached the rank of major in 1752. He was promoted brevet lieutenant-colonel on 18 January 1755 and on 7 December 1759 became lieutenant-colonel commandant of the 19th (later 18th) Light Dragoons. He was promoted to Colonel of Dragoons by brevet on 19 February 1762, and colonel of his regiment on 3 August that year. Drogheda commanded the 18th Light Dragoons in operations against the Whiteboys in Ireland from 1762 to 1764, and remained colonel of the regiment until it was disbanded in September 1821.

Lord Drogheda was Governor of Kinsale and Charles Fort from 1765 until 1770. He was promoted to major-general on 30 April 1770 and served as Master-General of the Irish Ordnance and colonel-in-chief of the Royal Irish Artillery from 1770 to 1797, being promoted to lieutenant-general on 29 August 1777 and full general on 12 October 1793. He served as Muster-Master-General in Ireland from May to November 1807 and was promoted to Field Marshal on 19 July 1821, despite never having seen active service.

Political career
In 1756 he became Member of Parliament for St Canice. He succeeded his father as Earl of Drogheda in 1758, when his father and younger brother were drowned in the Irish Sea. Moore became Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1763. In 1776 he became Member of Parliament for Horsham. He was a Lord Justice of Ireland from 1766 to 1767. In 1791 he was created Marquess of Drogheda. In 1797 he was appointed one of the joint Postmaster General of Ireland, a post he held until 1806. In 1801, he was made Baron Moore, of Moore Place in the County of Kent, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

Civilian life and family
Lord Drogheda was elected Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1758, a post he held for the next two years. He was a Governor of County Meath from 1759, Governor of King's County from 1764, Constable of Maryborough Castle from 1765, Custos Rotulorum of King's County from 1766, Custos Rotulorum of Queen's County from 1769 and Governor of Queen's County from 1774, holding all these offices until his death. In 1783 he became one of the Founder Knights of the Order of St Patrick. Moore was an important patron of the artist William Ashford.

Drogheda married Lady Anne Seymour-Conway, the daughter of Francis Seymour, 1st Marquess of Hertford, on 15 February 1766. They had eight children, including Charles Moore, 2nd Marquess of Drogheda, Henry, father of the 3rd and last Marquess, and Elizabeth, Countess of Westmeath. His wife's family had a tradition of mental illness, which may have a bearing on the fact that their elder son went insane.

References and sources

 * Heathcote, T. A., The British Field Marshals 1736 - 1997, Leo Cooper, 1999, ISBN 0-85052-696-5