MOONE, Robert (c.1519-80), of Bridport; later of Loders Fleet, 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.1519, yr. s. of Richard Moone of Ottery, Devon, bailiff of Bridport. m. Margaret (d.1603), da. and coh. of Stephen Hyde of Hyde, Dorset, 9s. 8da.

Offices Held

Searcher, Poole c.1571.

Biography

Moone’s father and brother both held offices at Bridport, where he was returned to the 1559 Parliament. The only mention of him to be found in the journals of the House is to leave of absence granted on 18 Mar. 1559. He bought Loders from the Earl of Arundel in 1560 and purchased Fleet about seven years later. He was rated for the subsidy of 1576 on £50 in goods, and continued to buy land for many years, over some of which, probably Chaldon in Purbeck, he fought a Chancery case against the relatives of John Clavell and John Lovell. In 1567 he gave evidence on behalf of John Hassard in a Star Chamber suit concerning a dispute at Lyme Regis. He became searcher of Poole on the death of his brother Walter in 1571. He died on 14 Nov. 1580, and was buried in West Fleet church, where there is a brass to him and his wife. His will, drawn up 1 Sept. 1578, appointed the widow sole executrix, with his son-in-law Richard Sydway and a kinsman, Serjeant Edmund Anderson, as overseers. Five years after the will was proved in 1581 its validity was challenged unsuccessfully. Moone’s descendants became country gentlemen, severing their connexion with Bridport. One branch of the family went to America and founded the family of Derby, merchants of Salem, New England.

This biography is based upon New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg. lxxxi. 91-4, 181-3, 314, 356. Other sources: Vis. Dorset (Harl. Soc. xx), 72; CJ, i. 58; Hutchins, Dorset, ii. 16; Dorset Nat. Hist. Antiq. Field Club Procs. xxvi. 111; liii. 94; Som. and Dorset N. and Q. vi. 118; lay subsidy, 18 Eliz. (T/S at PRO); St. Ch. 5/H32/4; PCC 43 Daper, 38 Darcy, 26 Brudenell; C142/193/45.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N. M. Fuidge

Notes