Background
More was the son of Robert More of Linley in Shropshire. Despite this academic promise Richard did not go on to university, possibly because he married early, in 1592, to Sara Harris, daughter of a Shrewsbury merchant.
More was the son of Robert More of Linley in Shropshire. Despite this academic promise Richard did not go on to university, possibly because he married early, in 1592, to Sara Harris, daughter of a Shrewsbury merchant.
He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War. In the early sixteenth century Richard More"s grandfather had moved south to make his fortune at King Henry"s court, but, in 1583, the family moved back to Shropshire. Richard More"s birth date in not known, but is thought to be 1576, when the family had an estate in Barby, Northamptonshire.
At ten years old Richard More could read the Old Testament in Hebrew.
In 1602 Richard More was already master of the More estates, and in 1603 he added the manor of Downton, a significant estate just over the border in Herefordshire. His father Robert died in 1604
Richard More’s eldest son, Samuel, married a cousin, Katherine, in 1611.
The marriage settlement was unusual in that Richard paid £600 sum to Katherine’s father, and took control of the family’s estate, at Larden near Much Wenlock, immediately after the marriage. By 1620, upon counsel from Lord Zouche among others, it was decided to place the children as indentured servants bound for Virginia - and they were placed about the ship Mayflower.
As it happened, winter weather drove the ship north to Cape Cod Harbor where three of the four children perished that first winter.
Of the More children sent on the Mayflower, only five-year-old Richard More survived. Richard More was active in trade in Bishop"s Castle. He was sheriff in 1619, and was elected to the corporation in 1623.
This prompted More to write a pamphlet in reply titled "True Relation of the Murders" although he was refused licence to print the pamphlet until 1641.
More was bailiff of the borough in 1637. He was re-elected Member of Parliament for Bishop"s Castle for the Long Parliament in November 1640 and sat until his death in 1643.
He strongly supported the Parliamentary side and contributed plate to the cause. In 1643 he published a translation of Clavis Apocalyptica by Joseph Mede.
He died the same year.
Short Parliament]
In April 1640, More was elected Member of Parliament for Bishop"s Castle in the Short Parliament. He was a committee member under the Scandalous Ministers Acting and a member of the Shropshire Sequestration committee.
