John Moore

Who was John Moore?

Colonel John Moore was one of the regicides of King Charles I.

John Moore was born into one of the oldest noble Moore families in England in 1599. By the early 1640s, John Moore was heavily involved with the early shipping trade, forging connections in Barbados. When English Civil War broke out in England in 1642, Moore pledged his allegiance to the Roundhead Parliamentarians as did most of Liverpool's burgesses, who were largely of Puritan stock. The nobles and gentry formed the bulk of the Cavaliers, including the mayor, John Walker. The Castle and the township was handed over to Lord Derby for the Royalists.

In May 1643, however, John Moore and his Parliamentarian men set about routing the castle, which they succeeded, suffering only 7 dead to the Royalists' 80 dead and 300 prisoners. The Lancashire Royalist faction collapsed soon after. After the castle had been taken, John Moore assumed control of both it and the area that it encompassed, taking the title of Governor of Liverpool for himself. Cromwell rewarded him with the rank of Colonel in his Parliamentarian army and also making him Parliament's vice-admiral of Cheshire and Lancashire.