Richard More 1627-1698

Richard MORE 1627-1698

Biographical Note

Born at Linley, Shropshire, son of Samuel More of Linley Hall, a gentry family with puritan sympathies during the Civil War. Entered at Gray’s Inn 1646. Succeeded to the Linley Hall estate 1662. JP for Shropshire 1665-87, MP for Bishop’s Castle 1681, 1689 and 1695-98.

Books

Gave ca.350 vols to the parish of More, Shropshire in 1680 to found a parish library there; the books were extracted from More’s larger personal/family collection, for which a contemporary list survives in the More family papers (Shropshire CRO). The books selected include theology, history, geography, poetry and mathematics. A number of them are identifiable as having been previously owned by local people in and around More. The gift to the parish seems likely to have been triggered by the death in 1678 of George Lawson, Rector of More, whose books were sold and therefore ceased to be available as a local resource. More's will has no reference to books.

Sources

• Will of Richard More, The National Archives PROB 11/449/366.
• Condren, C. More parish library, Salop, Library History 7 (1987), 141-162.
• Henning, B. The House of Commons 1660-1690, London, 1983.
• Perkin, M. A directory of the parochial libraries of the Church of England. London, 2004.