George Moore Landlord and Novelist

George Moore, Landlord and Novelist. By Kevin Coyne.

George Moore was born on the 24th February 1852 in Moore Hall House, on the shores of Lough Carra in County Mayo. He was educated in a catholic school, Oscott College. He had little interest in study and at the age of 16 he was expelled for "Idleness and general worthlessness". A further vain attempt was made to educate his further by the old parish priest. George went to live in the family home in London, where he developed a love for horse racing and art.

His fathers sudden death brought Moore home for the funeral. His father had died in the middle of a dispute with his tenants in Ballintubber over a rent reduction. George insinuated afterwards that his father had committed suicide because of this trouble, however there is no evidence to support this theory. His father had been a very compassionate landlord and the poor came from all over Mayo to attend his funeral

The properity, which George inherited, consisted of 12,371 acres in Mayo and 110 in Roscommon with a total valuation of £3,596. Rent at that time was usually 25% in excess of valuation, but in Moore's case it was lower because of the poor quality of the land. His father had made matters worse by sub-dividing land by leaging land to farmres' sons this made a loot of the holdings uneconomical.

George Moore left for Paris to study art for 10 years. While there he met many famous artists and writers. While there George discovered that he would never make it as an artiest, instead he turned to writing English prose which was eventually to bring him fame. While in Paris he changed his religion to Protestantism. George attributed his hatred of Catholicism to ancestral memories as well as personal experiences at Oscott "Catholic" College.

Moore saw his tenants as foreigners. He hated Ireland and had no wish to live here.
"Irish landlords lived within their own domains making a world of their own, with Ireland outside the gates"
When Moore returned from Paris he had to raise £3,000 by mortgage to pay his debts. He continued he father's tradition of not having an eviction on the estate. Moore never carried any firearms on him, as other landlords did, at the height of the land agitation. He was quick to access the situation of the landlord. The age of the gentry in which Moore was brought up was changing quickly. It was a lost cause. While negotiating with tenants for a reduction in rents he threatened to bring in a English agent. The response went as follows: "An English man here" Followed by, "He would go back quicker than he came" and then, "Or maybe he wouldn't go back at all."

After the fall of Parnell a lull came in Irish politics, people turned inward on themselves and writers and poets came more to the forefront. The Gaelic League attracted Moore's attention. He described the Irish language "as a spring rising among the mountains and becoming a great river flowing through the fields."

The French writer Zola influenced George Moore's novels. "A Mummer's Wife" is recognised as the first realictic novel in the English language. "A Drama In Muslin" contains a vivid account of social life in Ireland during the Land League. Moore admired the courage the old Land League agitator "When Davitt calls I run to open the door for him, the only man for whom I do that." When Davitt died he saw no way of helping Ireland except by writing a book which would call on the Celt to escape from preistcraft. This book turned out to be his autobiography "Hail and Farewell". With this work he created a new art form - the fictional autobiography. He went on to write many other works.

In February 1923 in the midst of civil war anti-treaty republican forces burned Moore Hall, because his brother, Maurice, became a senator to the Dáil. He remarked later that "Ireland was not a gentleman's country." He sold some of his properties to the Irish Land commission for £25,000. All that remains of his great estate today is the family graveyard in Kiltoom of which George is still the registered owner. He died on the 21st January 1933 in London. He was cremated on 27th May 1933 his ashes were laid to rest on Castle Island on Lough Carra.

Sources:
Cave Richard A Study of the Novels of George Moore (Colin Smythe, 1978)
Hone Joseph The Moores of Moore Hall (Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1939)
Hone Joseph The Life of George Moore (Victor Gollancz, 1936)
Gray Tony The Life of George Moore (Sinclair-Stevenson, 1996)
Carra Historical Society The Moores of Moore Hall A short History (C.H.S., 1989)

"George Moore: The Missing Link, Moore's Place Within or out of the Canon", available on request.
Author: unknown

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