Autobiography of Ramsey Bignall Moore OBE, with covering page addressed to his sons George and Gordon
Date(s): 1940s
Scope & Content: Typescript, autobiographical account touching on family ancestry in the introductory six pages and second subheading 'My Parents' (pages 7-9) and then subdivided by headings III My Youth (pp9-12), IV Education (pp13-15), V Higher Education (pp15-18), VI A Law Student (pp19-27), VII A Lawyer (pp27-33), VIII 1914-1920 (pp33-37), IX Attorney General - 1921/45 (pp37-47(a) ), X Sweet-Hearting (pp47(a)-50), XI Sports and Holidays (pp51-59), XII Church Life (pp59-62) and XIII General Review (pp62-64).
In his introductory remarks addressed to his sons, Moore notes that he has not written for publication but for their personal information and this fact 'has enabled me to be more personal in many respects than would otherwise have been possible'. In the closing remarks Moore reflects on the rebuffs received for being a tee-totaller and a free-churchman and notes he would not change his life choices. He also comments further on having become an advocate by chance and the principles which guided him; were he to have his time again he would have chosen a different career, 'A lawyer lives on his nerves; he carries the worries of his clients. If he wins a case for them he gets a certain amount of gratitude but not very much'. (p63).
Content includes a description of working as a student in the office of Mr Ring, 13 Athol Street, Douglas from 1897, his observations about fellow students and the firm's employees and how he managed to offend the Manager of the Isle of Man Bank, Mr Alex Hill, 'a stern dour Scotchman with a fiery temper' (p21). Moore recalls being with Ring in his first big criminal case as Attorney General, 'the only case which went wrong' (pp21-22); also walking past the closed door of Dumbell's Bank on the morning of 2 February 1900 on the way to the office and seeing a crowd read the notice pinned to the door, 'I entirely failed to grasp the significance of this. My first thought was of exultation as a good Limited Bank man, but before the day was out I came to realise what it meant' (p22). As well as noting the wider effects and causes of the bank crash, his own part in taking legal statements (p25) and opinion on the trial outcome (pp25-26), Moore sets out the financial impact on his father and family, 'I hardly care to think of the year 1900. It is just a nightmare' (p23). His reflections on his subsequent legal career and time as Attorney General yield plentiful anecdotes, comments on contemporaries, musings on cases and opinions about the workings of executive government in the Isle of Man.
Moore's closing two paragraphs read, 'As you know, I was an intimate friend of Hall Caine's and one of his executors. The memorial on his grave was entirely the result of my work. I arranged and cooperated with Knox in its design, and after Knox's death saw the whole thing carried through.
'I would like to say that I served my day and generation. That seems like bragging, but I can say that I have done my very best for the Island and its people. There is hardly a phase of Manx life that I have not touched, and if I could think that I had left the world a little better than I found it I would be content'.
Administration / Biographical History: Ramsey Bignall Moore OBE (d.1969) was the second child and eldest son of James and Sarah Jane Moore nee Clucas and was born on 23 January 1880 at 25 Victoria Street, Douglas.
He served as HM Attorney-General in the Isle of Man from 1921 until 1945. He was also a Trustee of the Manx Museum for 27 years, one-time President of the Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society, Chairman of the Council of Education and first Chairman of the Old Age Pension & National Health Insurance Board.
Language: English
Extent: 65 pages
Physical description: typescript
Item name: autobiography
Collection: Manuscript Archive
Level: ITEM
ID number: MS 08829
Retrieval number: MD 1154
Record class: Private
Access conditions: No regulations or restrictions are implemented on this material. Advance notification of a research visit is advisable by emailing library@mnh.gov.im