Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/More, Samuel
MORE, SAMUEL (1594–1662), parliamentarian, born in 1594, was eldest son of Richard More [q. v.] of Linley, Shropshire, whom he succeeded in December 1643. Like his father, More became a zealous parliamentarian, an active soldier, and member of the ‘committee of parliament for Shropshire, whose business it was to raise money for the good cause,’ and whose proceedings are said to have been satirised in the ‘Committee,’ a comedy, by Sir Robert Howard (1626–1698) [q. v.] Soon after his father's death, More was summoned in February 1643–4 to take command of Hopton Castle, one of the few parliamentary strongholds in Shropshire. With thirty-one men he defended the castle for more than a month against a force of upwards of five hundred foot and horse; ‘the siege, of which he has left a circumstantial account (printed in Blakeway, The Sheriffs of Shropshire, pp. 217–20), ended in unconditional surrender, and the whole garrison, with the exception of More, was put to death. More was imprisoned in Ludlow Castle, and then (Hist. MSS. Comm. 4th Rep. p. 266) exchanged for Edward Cresset, one of the leading royalists in Shropshire (cf. The Ingagement and Resolution of the principal Gentlemen of Salop, Oxford, 1642, 4to). From 18 May 1645 to 25 March 1647 he had charge of Montgomery Castle, with a salary of 20s. a day (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1648–9, p. 14). On 9 Aug. 1645 he was also governor of Monmouth, and on 26 Sept. was ordered to ‘improve his forces,’ so as to alarm the Welsh and prevent them sending relief to Chester, which was being besieged by the parliamentarians (ib. 1644–1645 p. 308, 1645–7 p. 163). In December he was governor of Ludlow Castle, and on 6 June 1646 his appointment was confirmed (Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep. p. 120, 7th Rep. p. 113). On 17 June 1647 he became governor of Hereford Castle. On 8 Aug. 1648 he was ordered to repair to Montgomery Castle and report on the state of the garrison (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1648–9, p. 235). On 25 Feb. 1653–4 More was placed on the committee for assessment in Shropshire, and took a leading part in the internal regulation of the county. He was accused of complicity in an attempt to depose Cromwell from the protectorate, and when elected member for the county in the parliament of 1656 he was excluded by Cromwell (Noble Regicides, ii. 84). He was elected M.P. for Bishop's Castle in January 1658 (Hist. MSS. Comm. 10th Rep. pt. iv. p. 405). He survived the Restoration, and died in May 1662.
More married, first, a daughter of his kinsman, Jasper More, by whom he had three children; by a second wife he had three sons and four daughters.
His eldest son, Richard (1627-1698), born in 1627, was admitted of Gray's Inn on 26 May 1646 (Reg. ed. Foster), was in 1644 lieutenant in Lord St. John's regiment, was made commissioner for compounding in 1646, frequently serving in that capacity until 1659 (cf. Cal. Proc. Committee for Compounding, passim), became commissioner for advance of money (Cal. pp. 1045,1648), Serjeant of Gray's Inn (Luttrell, Brief Relation, ii. 428), and sat in parliament as member for Bishop's Castle from 1680 until his death in 1698. He married, first, Ann, daughter of Sir Isaac Pennington [q. v.], lord mayor of London, but had no issue by her, from whom he was subsequently divorced; and, secondly, Dorcas Owen, by whom he had two sons, Thomas (d. 1731) and Richard, slain in battle in 1709.
Robert More (1703-1780), son of Robert, third son of Samuel More, travelled widely in Europe; in Spain he became intimate with Benjamin Keene [q. v.] and the Spanish ministers, and was the means of introducing many reforms into the administration. He was an enthusiastic botanist, a friend of Linnæus, and F.R.S. (cf. Dillon, Travels through Spain, p. 107, &c).
More must be distinguished from several officers of that name in the parliamentary army, especially Colonel John More of Bank Hall, Lancashire, who was M.P. for Liverpool in 1640, took part in the siege of Lathom House and several other actions during the civil war, was one of the king's judges, served in Ireland in 1650, and commanded Cromwell's Guards (cf. Discourse of the Warr, Chetham Soc.; Norris Papers, Chetham Soc.; Gregson, Portfolio of Fragments; Baines, Lancashire and Cheshire; Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 93; Cal. State Papers, Dom. passim; Sprigge, Anglia Rediviva, p. 332; Noble, Regicides, ii. 84); and from Samuel Moore or More, born in 1617, who wrote a preface to Robert Dingley's ‘Messiah's Splendor,’ 1649, and a work entitled ‘Θεοσπλαγχνισθεις, or the Yernings of Christ's Bowels towards his languishing Friends,’ 1648, 1654. The latter has a portrait engraved by W. Marshall. There was also a Colonel William Moore, who served in Ireland in 1656 (Noble, ii. 84).
[Hist. MSS. Comm., passim, especially 10th Rep. Appendix, pt. iv., containing the Corporation of Bishop's Castle MSS.; Peacock's Army Lists; Cal. State Papers, 1641-59, passim; Official Returns of Members of Parliament; Blakeway's Sheriffs of Shropshire; Visitations of Shropshire (Harl. Soc.); Castles and Old Mansions of Shropshire, pp. 28-9; Garrisons of Shropshire, pp. 50-2; Mercurius Britannicus, 1-8 April 1644; Noble's Regicides, ii. 84-5; Webb's Memorials of the Civil War in Herefordshire, i. 388, ii. 12; Hulbert's County of Salop, pp. 266-7; Owen and Blakeway's Hist. of Shrewsbury, i. 458, 460; Burke's Landed Gentry; authorities quoted.]