The Memorial to George Moore is mounted on an interior wall of St. Mary’s de Ballaugh. The Memorial is a white marble tablet inscribed with black lettering. The quote from 2 Samuel 12:23 is etched at the foot of the Memorial Tablet.
The full inscription of the Memorial is shown below:
IN MEMORY OF
GEORGE MOORE
who was born 14th April 1780
and
died 18th July 1800.
He was the son of James Moore.
and Catherine Moore alias Wilks.
and
Grandson of Sir George Moore Kt.
Hugh Cosnahan Esq.
" I shall go to him, but he shall not
return to me."
2 Samuel XII. 23.
This memorial appears at first sight to be a memorial to a 20-year old great grandson of Sir George Moore.
Sir George Moore was indeed a knight, the Speaker (‘their leader’) of the House of Keys in the Manx Parliament Tynwald, and lead the Islands effort to obtain better terms for Manx commerce after the Act of Revestment of 1765. It was largely through his efforts that the Island was not annexed to Cumberland as previously planned. It was for this work as Speaker that he was knighted in 1781.
You might think that he was a pillar of society but in matters of commerce he was a merchant who was heavily involved in the ‘running trade’ and owned various vessels. He was also a partner in a Glasgow bank.
The ‘running trade’ is a euphemism for Smuggling. The running trade was very prevalent in the Island at the time and so Sir George would have been one of many smugglers active on the Island.
James Moore was Sir George’s youngest son and was born in 1754. In 1773 James went to Glasgow to learn the business of banking from his father’s friend Robert Carrick, although James was also involved in the ‘running trade’ with his business partner James Brown. James married Catherine Cosnaham and the mother of George in 1779.
Catherine was the second daughter of Hugh Cosnaham, the Manx politician, and Elinor Finch.
George Moore was indeed born on 14th April 1780, however, shortly afterwards his father disappeared, leaving his wife and baby son in Glasgow and his affairs in disorder with many creditors and no account of his debts or assets.
Fortunately for Catherine and her baby son Sir George stepped in and offered to settle on the Children his stock in the old Glasgow bank and to allow Catherine the interest from it for her support, while it was arranged that she should go Ballamoore (the family home on the Island) as soon as the gales of winter has subsided and would render the passage less disagreeable.
This all seems to confirm the information on George’s Memorial, however, it is noted in N Mathieson’s paper that a few month later her baby died. The baby is not named but in the article, there is no mention of any children other than George. It is also curious however that in the paper it is mentioned that Sir George ‘offered to settle on the Children’, and not the Child.
Source: N. Mathieson Sir George Moore and his Sons Proc IoMNH&ASco V # 2 pp144/168 1950
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