MOORE, ARTHUR. - Count and politician, b. in 1849 at Liverpool, d. in 1904 at Mooresfort, Tipperary (Ireland). Elected deputy in 1874, he supported in Parliament agrarian reform, better treatment of children in factories, university education for Irish Catholics and Home Rule. In 1877 the Pope conferred on him the title of count.
He was persuaded that the Irish question had to be resolved legally and not with a policy of violence and agitation. He therefore did not wholly approve the program of the Land League and of the National League and voted in favor of the second reading of Gladstone's land bill, although Parnell and other friends of his abstained from it. Convinced of the soundness of his ideas, he did not wish to bind himself too closely to his political friends so as not to run the risk of losing his independence and freedom of judgment. Following the electoral reform of 1885, which deprived Clonmel of one of its representatives in the Commons, M. left the Chamber. He nevertheless continued to serve without pause the cause of the Catholics and of the Irish with generous donations to schools, churches, convents; he published articles in reviews and newspapers in defense of religion and gave speeches and lectures. He was very religious: the practices of worship were for him an intimate experience deeply felt.
Bibliography
Silvio Furlani