MOONE, Morgan (c.1549-c.1611), of Bridport, Dorset.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. c.1549, s. of Walter Moone of Bridport by his w. Edith. educ. St. Alban Hall, Oxf. 1576, BA 1578. m. (1) Alice; (2) 26 Dec. 1611, Dionisia (d.1621), da. of Richard Tyggins, of Bridport, 1s.

Offices Held

Overseer of rope making, Bridport 1580s, cofferer by 1589, sub-bailiff 1590; dep. (to Walter Ralegh) for subsidy and customs on overlengths of cloth, Devon and Dorset, and (with Henry Wade) for licensing of wines, Cornwall and Devon.

Biography

Moone’s father was bailiff and cofferer of Bridport and searcher of Poole, where he was succeeded by his brother, Robert, Morgan Moone’s uncle. Robert, who had already paid Walter’s debts and provided for the education of his children, made himself responsible for Morgan Moone’s education at Oxford. After Walter’s death Morgan Moone’s mother married one Richard Tyggins, her late husband’s partner as cofferer of Bridport, and father of Morgan Moone’s second wife.

Upon Robert Moone’s death in 1580, his widow took Morgan into her business, and he soon afterwards acquired local offices in Bridport and under Ralegh. The Richard Moone who sailed to the Azores in one of Ralegh’s ships in 1586 may have been Morgan’s youngest brother. He was killed, or died, on the voyage, and administration of his goods was granted to Morgan as next of kin. Another brother, Anthony, wrote in 1592 to the captain of the Roebuck, one of Ralegh’s ships, referring to ‘our lord and master’. The association between Moone and Ralegh affected the patronage at Bridport, for, though Moone twice represented the town in his own right, because he was also an associate and servant of Ralegh, he paved the way for some Ralegh nominees, such as Gregory Sprint John Fortescue II and Adrian Gilbert.

Moone borrowed ‘a great sum’ of money from his co-deputy Wade, with whom he soon quarrelled over the lease of a parsonage formerly belonging to Moone’s grandfather. Robert Moone’s son Maximilian brought a case against Morgan Moone in the Exchequer court, alleging conspiracy to defraud him of the lease, which he claimed as part of his inheritance. Robert Moone’s widow, supporting her son, suggested that the document had been embezzled by Morgan when he first became her business partner after her husband’s death. The dispute was still in being in 1600, when both Moone and Wade were sued by Maximilian, this time in Chancery.

Moone died about 1611, when administration of his estate was granted to his widow.

This biography is based upon New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg. lxxx. 356 and lxxxi. 91-4, 178-85, and E134/42/Eliz./Trin. 2/Dorset and Mdx. Other sources: PCC 43 Daper; Hutchins, Dorset, ii. 10; Som. and Dorset N. and Q. iii. 93; Bridport dome bk. ff. 330-2; Bridport Recs.48; PCC admon. act bk. 1586-7, f. 5; HMC Hatfield, iv. 232.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: P. W. Hasler

Notes