Richard Moore (radical)

Richard Moore (1810–1878) was an English radical politician. He was a moderate Chartist, and heavily involved in the campaign against "taxes on knowledge".

Moore was born in London 16 October 1810. He worked as a wood-carver, and in time employed his own staff. While young, he began to take a part in radical politics. He became in 1831 a member of the council of Sir Francis Burdett's National Political Union, and assisted Robert Owen's work in Gray's Inn Lane.

In 1834 Moore was the leader of a deputation to Lord Melbourne on the question of the social condition of the people. He was a member of the committee for which William Lovett drew up the People's Charter in 1837, as a representative of the London Working-men's Association. In 1839 he was a member of the National Convention which met to promote the passing of the charter, was secretary of the committee which greeted Lovett and John Collins on their release from gaol in 1840, and joined forces with Lovett in the Working-men's Association in 1842. He took part in its meetings in the National Hall, Holborn.

Moore supported the Chartist cause, but not the "physical force" party, and never overstated what the Charter could achieve for the working classes. He joined the People's International League of 1847, set up by Thomas Cooper and William James Linton, with Lovett and John Parry. When the People's Charter Union (CPU) was formed on 10 April 1848, he was appointed its treasurer.

In 1849 Moore took up the reform with which he became most involved, the abolition of tax stamps on newspapers. He lobbied Richard Cobden to adopt it, as a way to keep the working and middle classes in touch over financial reforms.

The Charter Union appointed a committee on the tax stamp issue, the National Stamp Abolition Committee (NSAC); the NSAC was in effect the successor to the CPU. It met at Moore's house, and he became its permanent chairman. Between 7 March 1849, when the NSAC was formed, and the repeal of the paper duty in June 1861, Moore attended 390 related meetings. During the same period he was an advanced radical, a steady colleague of Lovett, Henry Hetherington, and James Watson. Hetherington and Watson were original NSAC members; G. J. Holyoake and James Stansfeld then joined. Holyoake sought allies, such as those working to have duties on advertising and paper scrapped, bringing in Charles Cowan.

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