Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/664

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Moore
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Moore

the governor and council. He took part in drawing up the petition for a reform of the Manx Constitution in 1907. He was also a member of the council of education for the island (1888), of the harbour board (1899), and of the Manx Diocesan Church Commissioners, and became deputy receiver-general in 1905. He interested himself in meteorology, publishing a pamphlet on the climate of the island in 1899 and a record of 'Earth Temperatures at Cronkbourne, 1880-9,' in the 'Royal Meteorological Soc. Quarterly Journal' (xx., Oct. 1894). He was president of the Isle of Man Agricultural Society in 1883. In 1902 he received King Edward VII on his visit to the island, and was created C.V.O. in the same year.

On Manx antiquities Moore was the chief authority in the island, and was one of the museum and ancient monuments trustees from the formation of that body in 1886. Moore's chief title to fame is as the promoter of the study of the Manx language and of Manx history. He only learned the language in early manhood, at a time when it and its literature were despised by his educated fellow countrymen and threatened with extinction. He sketched the history of the language and the sources of knowledge respecting it in a paper printed by the Natural History and Antiquarian Society of the isle in 1887. In 1899 he founded the Manx Language Society and became its first president. Assisted by (Sir) John Rhys, he in 1893 edited for the Manx Society for the Publication of National Documents 'The Book of Common Prayer in Manx Gaelic,' the earliest and longest MS. in the language. He sought to conserve not only the language but the music, lore, and tradition of the island, and published the results of his labours in such volumes as 'The Surnames and Place Names of the Isle of Man' (1890); 'Folk-Lore of the Isle of Man' (1891); 'Manx Carols' (1891); 'Further Notes on Manx Folk-Lore' in 'The Antiquary' (1895); and 'Manx Ballads and Music' (1896). Moore's 'History of the Isle of Man' (1900) is the one authoritative book on the subject. He also published 'The Diocese of Sodor and Man' (1893); 'Manx Worthies' (1901); 'Bishop Hildesley's Letters' (1904); 'Douglas 100 Years Ago' (1904); and 'Extracts from the Records of the Isle of Man' (1905). He edited the periodical 'The Manx Note Book' (1885-7), and contributed many articles to that and other learned magazines.

Moore, who was appointed official translator of the Acts of Tynwald into Manx, was a vice-president of the Celtic Association, and at the eisteddfod held at Cardiff in 1899 the degree of Druid was conferred upon him in recognition of his services to Manx literature. He collected materials for a book on Anglo-Manx dialect, which was not completed at his death. He died at Woodbourne House, Douglas, on 12 Nov. 1909, and was buried at Kirk Braddan cemetery.

On 24 Feb. 1887 he married Louisa Elizabeth Wynn, daughter of Dr. Hughes-Games, then Archdeacon of Man and subsequently vicar of Hull. He left one son and two daughters. A bust executed by Mr. Taubman, a Manx sculptor resident in London, and unveiled at Douglas by Lord Raglan on 10 Oct. 1911, stands in the chamber of the House of Keys; and a portrait by the Liverpool artist, R. E. Morrison, President of the Liverpool Manx Society, was presented by the artist to the House of Keys.

[Celtic Review, 15 Jan. 1910; Isle of Man Weekly Times, 13 Nov. 1909; Isle of Man Examiner, 20 Nov. 1909; information from the Misses Moore.]

S. M.


MOORE, STUART ARCHIBALD (1842–1907), legal antiquary, born in Sept. 1842, was fourth son of Barlow Brass Moore of The Lawn, South Lambeth, Surrey, by his wife Harriet Adcock. Educated at the Philological School, Marylebone Road, he became secretary to Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy [q. v.], deputy keeper of the public records, and afterwards practised as a record agent. Elected F.S.A. on 2 May 1869, he contributed to 'Archæologia' in 1886 a paper on the 'Death and Burial of King Edward II.' Moore quickly obtained distinction as an antiquarian lawyer and an authority on questions relating to foreshore, fishery, and cognate matters. On 24 Jan. 1880, somewhat late in life, he became a student of the Inner Temple, and being called to the bar on 25 June 1884, at once obtained a lucrative practice. He fought with great pertinacity and success the claims of the crown to foreshore, arguing that the crown parted long ago with its foreshore rights to the lords of manors bounded by the sea. His 'History of the Foreshore and the Law relating thereto' (1888) is full of interesting extracts from ancient records, and constitutes the subject's brief against the crown.

Moore loved yachting, and was one of the finest amateur seamen of his time; he commanded his own 80-ton fishing ketch.