COLONEL MAURICE GEORGE Moore,

Moore, COLONEL MAURICE GEORGE, C.B., late Connaught Rangers born 1854, second son of George Henry Moore, M.P., of Moore Hall, Ballyglass, Co. Mayo; educated at Oscott; joined Connaught Rangers 1875; served in the Kaffir and Zulu Wars 1877-79 (despatches), and in the last South African campaign, during which he commanded the 1st Batt.Connaught Rangers (despatches, brevetLieut-Colonel, C.B.); retired 1906; is an enthusiastic sportsman, and was Master of Harriers 1891-95; married EVELYN, dau. of Stratford HANDCOCK, of Carantila Park, Co. Galway. The Colonel is a keen supporter of the Gaelic Revival.

Maurice George Moore (10 August 1854 – 8 September 1939) was an Irish soldier, author and politician.

Moore was the second of four sons born to George Henry Moore of Moore Hall, County Mayo, and Mary Blake of Ballinafad, County Galway. His elder brother was the writer, George A. Moore.

Moore joined the British army in 1874 and saw action in the Kaffir War and Anglo-Zulu War. During the Second Boer War he was present at the battles of Ladysmith, Colenso, Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz. He was highly regarded and decorated, been awarded the rank of brevet colonel in 1902. However, his horror at the creation of concentration camps and British military ill-treatment of Boer civilians led to him writing anonymous articles which were published in the Freeman's Journal, which brought attention to the matters. He retired from the army on 16 July 1906.

Moore was a fluent Irish language speaker – speaking it with fellow members of the Connaught Rangers – and a supporter of the Gaelic League. In 1903 he started evening schools in Mayo, teaching the language and Irish history, supporting the 1909 introduction of Irish as a compulsory subject for the National University of Ireland. This brought him into conflict with the catholic bishops. He was heavily involved in rural development and a supporter of the cooperative movement.

A member of the provisional committee of the Irish Volunteers in 1913, he was made the organisations inspector general, spending much of 1914 organising the troops in Ireland. He was a very reluctant supporter of John Redmond's takeover of the Volunteers, finally breaking with him in 1916. In that year he collected a petition with Agnes O'Farrelly asking for a reprieve of the death sentence against Roger Casement. From 1917 he was a member of Sinn Féin, which led to his Dublin home been raided a number of times by the British army during the Irish War of Independence.

He served as Irish envoy to South Africa and France in 1921 and 1922, and was made a member of the Irish Free State Seanad in the latter year. He remained a senator until his death in Dublin in 1939. He criticised the boundary agreement and the financial settlement between the UK and Ireland. He joined Fianna Fáil in 1928.

Moore married Evelyn, daughter of John Stradford Handcock of Dunmore, County Galway and had two sons, Maurice and Ulick. Ulick served with the 6th Connaught Rangers and was killed in action at Sainte-Emilie on 22 March 1918.

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Moore Hall house was burned down on 1 February 1923 during the Irish Civil War. An account of the burning was given shortly afterwards by the owner in a letter to the press.

For A Virtual Reality Tour of the Ruins

http://www.abandonedireland.com/Moorehall_1.html

This is interesting. His Brother George Moore puts Colonel Maurice Moore in a very awkward postion.

The Will Of George Moore.
"In order to secure the burial of my body, my notion was to leave all my property, lands, money, pictures, and furniture to my brother, Colonel Maurice Moore on the
condition that I should be burnt and the ashes disposed of without the humiliation of Christian rites; that if the conditions that the inheritance carried with it were so disagreeable to Colonel Maurice Moore that he could not bring himself to see that the disposal of my remains was carried out according to my wishes, my property, lands,
money, pictures, and furniture, should go to my brother Augustus Moore; that in the event of his declining to carry out my wishes regarding the disposal of my remains, all my property should go to my brother Julian Moore; that if he should refuse to carry out my wishes regarding the disposal of my remains, all the said property should go
to my friend Sir William Eden, who would, I felt sure, take a sad pleasure in giving effect to the wishes of his old friend. A will drawn up on these lines would secure me against all chance of being buried with my ancestors in Kiltoon, and during the next two days I pondered my own burning. My brother might think that he was put to a
good deal of expense, but he would not fail me. He had taken off my hands the disagreeable task of seeing the undertakers and making arrangements for the saying of Masses, etc., arrangements which would be intensely disagreeable to me to make so. I had plenty of time to think out the details of my burning; and I grew happy in the thought that I had escaped from the disgrace of Christian burial--a disgrace which was never, until the last two days, wholly realised by me, but which was nevertheless always suspected."

"MOORE, Colonel Maurice George, C.B., ci Ballyglass, Co. Mayo, joined . the Connaught Rangers in 1875, and served in the Kaffir and Zulu Wars, and was present at the battles of Colenso and Spion Kop. He commanded the first battalion from December, 1900, till the end of the South African War, serving in Natal, Transvaal, Orange Biver Colony, raid Cape Colony. For his services he was men-
tioned in despatches and made Brevet-Lieut. - Colonel, C.B. He was a prominent figure in the early organisation of the Irish Volunteers, and a member of the Provisional Committee. Sir Neville Chamberlain, in his evidence to the Hardinge Commission, said he wished it understood that he cast no imputation against Colonel Moore, as when the disloyal element got into the Volunteers he would have no more to do with it. Colonel Moore himself submitted a statement to the Hardinge Commis-
sion."

Source:Sinn Fein Rebellion handbook. : Easter, 1916. Complete and connected narrative of the rising, with detailed accounts .."