John Moore (archbishop of Canterbury)

John Moore (1730 – 18 January 1805) was an English clergyman who was Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England.

The Most Reverend and Right Honourable John Moore
Archbishop of Canterbury
Portrait by Thomas Lawrence
Church	Church of England
Province	Canterbury
Diocese	Canterbury
Elected	26 April 1783 (confirmation of election)[1]
Term ended	18 January 1805 (death)
Predecessor	Frederick Cornwallis
Successor	Charles Manners-Sutton
Other post(s)	Dean of Canterbury (1771–1775) Bishop of Bangor (1774–1783)
Orders
Consecration	12 February 1775 by Frederick Cornwallis
Personal details
Born	1730 (1730) Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England
Died	January 18, 1805(1805-01-18) (aged 74–75) Lambeth, Surrey, England
Buried	St Mary-at-Lambeth
Denomination	Anglican
Parents	Thomas Moore Elizabeth
Spouse	Jane Wright (m. 1763) Catherine Eden (m. 1770)
Alma mater	Pembroke College, Oxford
Signature

Ordination history of John Moore
History Episcopal consecration Principal consecrator Frederick Cornwallis (Canterbury) Co-consecrators Edmund Keene (Ely) Robert Lowth (Oxford) John Thomas (Rochester) Date 12 February 1775 Place Lambeth Palace Chapel
Source(s):[2]

• Christianity portal

Life

Moore was the son of George Moore, a butcher, and Jane Cook. He was baptised at St. Michael's Church, Gloucester on 13 January 1730. He was educated at The Crypt School, Gloucester. He was a student at Pembroke College, Oxford (matriculated 1745; BA 1748; MA 1751).^[3]

After ordination, Moore was for some years tutor to Charles and Robert, the younger sons of Charles Spencer, Duke of Marlborough. On 21 September 1761, he was preferred to the fifth prebendal stall in the church of Durham and, in April 1763, to a canonry at Christ Church, Oxford.^[3]

On 1 July 1764, Moore received the degrees of B.D. and D.D. In September 1771, he was made Dean of Canterbury, and in February 1775, Bishop of Bangor.^[3]

On the death of Archbishop Frederick Cornwallis, Moore was translated to the See of Canterbury on 26 April 1783, on the joint recommendation of bishops Robert Lowth and Richard Hurd, both of whom had declined the primacy.^[3]

Moore was a competent administrator and a promoter of the Sunday-school movement and missionary efforts.^[3]

Moore died at Lambeth Palace on 18 January 1805 and was buried in Lambeth parish church.^[4]

Family

Moore married twice, first, a sister of James Wright; secondly, on 23 January 1770, Catherine, daughter of Robert Eden, of West Auckland. He left children.^[3]

Discovery of his coffin

In 2017, during the refurbishment of the Garden Museum,^[5] which is housed at the medieval church of St Mary-at-Lambeth,^[6] 30 lead coffins were found; one with an archbishop's red and gold mitre on top of it.^[7] A metal plate identified one of these as belonging to Moore, with another being that of his wife Catherine.^[8]