Thomas Moore (14 April 1618 – 6 August 1695) of Hawkchurch, then in Dorset (now in Devon), was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

variously between 1640 and 1685. He supported the Parliamentarian side in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. Moore was the son of Thomas Moore of Lyng Manor, Somerset. In April 1640, Moore was elected Member of Parliament for

Heytesbury Heytesbury is a village (formerly considered to be a town) and a civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village lies on the north bank of the Wylye, about southeast of the town of Warminster. The civil parish includes most of the small nei ...

in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on 20 February 1640 and sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640. It was so called because of its short session of only three weeks. After 11 years of per ...

. He was re-elected MP for Heytesbury in November 1640 for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...

and held the seat until he was excluded under

Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...

in 1648. History of Parliament Online - Moore, Thomas
/ref> In 1660 Moore was elected MP for Heytesbury and

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis ( ) is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and ...

and chose to sit for Heytesbury. He was a Justice of the Peace for Somerset and Dorset and was appointed

High Sheriff of Dorset The High Sheriff of Dorset is an ancient high sheriff title which has been in existence for over one thousand years. Until 1567 the Sheriff of Somerset was also the Sheriff of Dorset. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Governmen ...

for 1671–72. He was Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset and Somerset from May–October, 1688. Moore was a presbyterian. After the ejection of puritan ministers from their parishes, he often paid the fines of

Richard Alleine Richard Alleine (16 October 1610 – 22 December 1681) was an English Puritan divine. Life Alleine was born at Ditcheat, Somerset, in 1610 and baptised on the 18 October 1610, (where his father another Richard Alleine, born circa 1585 and d ...

, the ejected vicar of Batcombe.Richard Alleine (1611–1681)
/ref> Moore died in 1695 at the age of 77 and was buried at Hawkchurch. He had married twice: firstly Bridget, the daughter of Sir Thomas Trenchard of

Wolveton Wolfeton House (sometimes Wolveton House) is an early Tudor and Elizabethan manor house in Dorset, England. It is situated amongst water-meadows north-west of Dorchester not far from the confluence of the rivers Frome and Cerne. It is near t ...

, Dorset, and secondly Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir John Bampfield of

Poltimore Poltimore is a village, civil parish and former manor in the East Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. It lies approximately northeast of Exeter. The parish consisted of 122 households and a population of 297 people during the 20 ...

, Devon, with whom he had 3 sons, who all predeceased him, and 7 daughters. His estate was divided between his four sons-in-law. His seat at Hawkchurch passed to Thomas Wyndham, MP for Wilton.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Thomas 1618 births 1695 deaths High sheriffs of Dorset Deputy lieutenants of Dorset Deputy lieutenants of Somerset English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1660 Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Lyme Regis English Presbyterians