Margaret (Brent) Moore (abt. 1505 - bef. 1560)

Born about 1505 in England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of John Dering Esq, MP — married before 1525 in England

Descendants

Died before 1 Dec 1560 before about age 55 in Pluckley, Kent, England

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Biography

Margaret Brent was the daughter of John Brent of Charing, Kent and his wife Anne Berkeley, and was heiress to her brother Thomas Brent, Esq.^[1] Her date and place of birth are unknown and are estimated.

Margaret married before 1525, her first husband, John Dering, Esq., of Surrenden, Kent, MP for New Romney^[1] in 1547.^[2] John and Margaret had at least five sons and four daughters:^[1][3]

• Richard, Esq., heir,^[1][3] not 21 when his father made his will in 1535^[4]
• Anthony, Esq.,^[1][3] not 21 when his father made his will in 1535^[4]
• John, Esq.^[1][3][4]
• Edward^[1][3][4]
• Christopher, Gent.^[1][3]
• Anne or Amy (she is named Anne in the 1619-21 Visitation of Kent^[3] and by Douglas Richardson,^[1] who appears to base his list of children on the Visitation; she is called Amye in an abstract of her father's will^[4] and a transcript of her marriage to William Swann^[5]): wife of William Swann and Ralph Haymond^[1][3]
• Bennett, wife of Francis Bourne Esq^[1][3][4]
• Martha, wife of _____ Hutchins and _____ Guilford^[1][3][4]
• Margaret, wife of _____ Harison^[1][3][4]

An abstract of her husband John Dering's will mentions another son, Robert, described as his youngest son.^[4]

John died testate in 1550 and was buried at Pluckley, Kent.^[1] Margaret married second John Moore, Esq. of Benenden, Kent.^[6] It is likely they married in Kent, where they both lived. They had issue.^[1] Given his first name, derived from Margaret's last name at birth, Brent Moore will have been a child of this marriage.

Margaret was buried at Pluckley, Kent, 1 December 1560.^[1]

Research Notes

Alleged Son Edward Moore

Both the original Dictionary of National Biography^[7] and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography^[8] state that Margaret was mother of her second husband's son Edward Moore. Dates make this impossible: Margaret's first husband John Dering died in 1550^[6] and Edward Moore was born in about 1530.^[7][8][9]

Children listed in Lodge's Peerage of Ireland for her second marriage

Lodge's Peerage of Ireland also says Margaret was Edward Moore’s mother. It states that she and her second husband John Moore had six other children: Anne, Owen, George said by Lodge to have "died childish", Thomas, Nicholas and Brent.^[10] Of these only Brent can be regarded with a degree of confidence as a child of Margaret, because his first name is taken from her last name at birth.

• Lodge appears to have believed incorrectly that John Moore had only one wife, Margaret Brent, He seems to bave been unaware that John had a previous marriage and not taken on board the implications of the fact that Margaret's first husband died in 1550. Lodge therefore wrongly ascribes all John Moore's children to Margaret.
• Margaret would have been at least 40, possibly a few years older, when she married her second husband; her first husband died in 1550 and she herself died in 1560. We do not know when she married John Moore, but it was unlikely to have been before 1551. If she had six children by him, they would have come in quick succession. That would be unusual for someone of her age.
• Thomas, Owen, Edward and George went to Ireland early in the reign of Elizabeth I, who came to the throne in 1558, as part of the retinue of Henry Sidney. (See Thomas's and Edward's profiles for sourcing.) That points to their being born before Margaret married John Moore, and suggests they were children of his previous marriage. Thomas has previously been shown on WikiTree as a son of Margaret, but has been detached.
• Lodge may also have got confused about Nicholas. He suggests that Nicholas married Dorothy Southwell, said to be daughter of Sir Robert Southwell:
  • John Moore's son Edward married a Dorothy Southwell, daughter of Sir Richard, not Robert, Southwell (see sources on his profile and also the1612 Visitation of Essex^[11] and the Harleian Society edition of Norfolk Visitations^[12])
  • A Dorothy Southwell, said to be born in 1542, who was daughter of Sir Robert Southwell, married Thomas Bradbury^[13]

Date and Place of Second Marriage

There is no reliable source for the date and location of her second marriage, to John Moore. It is likely to have taken place in Kent, where they both lived. There is an entry in the FamilySearch collection "Ireland Marriages, 1619-1898" which places it in Newry, County Down, Ireland in 1550.^[14] The entry is not based on any actual record but just on an unspecified "Moore pedigree", and self-evidently 1550 predates the period officially covered by the database. It is difficult to see how what it says can have any basis in reality:

• none of the other sources suggest that either of Margaret Dering or John Moore ever travelled to Ireland, let alone did so before John Moore's sons travelled to Ireland from Kent early in the reign of Elizabeth I (i.e. not until at least 1558);
• some suggest that John Moore moved to Pluckley, Kent after he married Margaret;
• it is most unlikely that the wedding happened in 1550 (John Dering had only died in mid-1550);
• some of Margaret's children by John Dering were under 10 at that time;
• since both Margaret and John lived in Kent, it makes no sense that they should decide to travel all the way to Newry in Ireland to get married.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15} Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. II, p. 176, FISHER 12, Margaret Brent, Google Books
2. ↑ The History of Parliament Online: John Dering (1504-1549/50), article by Helen Miller
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10} Robert Hovenden (ed.). The Visitation of Kent taken in the Years 1619-1621, pp. 140-141, Dering pedigree, Internet Archive
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8} Abstract of will of John Dering (1535) in Francis Haslewood (compiler), Genealogical Memoranda relating to the Family of Dering of Surrenden-Dering in the Parish of Pluckley, Kent, privately printed, 1876, pp. 27-29, Internet Archive
5. ↑ Kent Marriages And Banns, Willesborough marriages 1538-1671, FindMyPast (with subscr.)
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} History of Parliament Online, entry for DERING, John (by 1504-49/50), of Surrenden Dering, Pluckley, Kent.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Vol. 38, pp. 346-347, entry for 'MOORE, Sir EDWARD (1530?–1602)], Wikisource
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Colm Lennon for 'Moore, Sir Edward (c. 1530–1602)', print and online 2004
9. ↑ Dictionary of Irish Biography, entry by Terry Clavin for 'Moore, Sir Edward', web, accessed 8 August 2022
10. ↑ John Lodge. The Peerage of Ireland, Vol. II, James Moore (Dublin), 1789, pp. 84-85, Internet Archive
11. ↑ Walter C Metcalfe (ed.). The Visitations of Essex, Harleian Society, 1878, p. 315, Archive
12. ↑ Walter Rye (ed.). The Visitacion of Norfolk…., Harleian Society, 1891, p. 259, Internet Archive
13. ↑ Will of Sir Robert Southwell, the National Archives, ref. PROB 11/43/577, transcript and preliminary background material on Oxford Shakespeare website
14. ↑ "Ireland Marriages, 1619-1898", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HPT5-64W2 : 6 February 2020), Margaret Brent Dering in entry for John Moore, 1550.

• Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham. (Salt Lake City, UT: the author, 2013). See also WikiTree's source page for Royal Ancestry. Vol. II, p. 505, FISHER 13

Acknowledgements

Magna Carta Project

This profile was re-reviewed and approved for the Magna Carta Project on 11 Apr 2020 by Thiessen-117.

Margaret (Brent) Moore appears in a Richardson-documented trail from Gateway Ancestor John Fisher to Magna Carta Surety Baron Saher de Quincy in Magna Carta Ancestry (2nd ed., vol. II, pages 171-177 FISHER) that was badged in 2015 by the Magna Carta Project. Margaret (Brent) Moore also appears in badged trails (reviewed/approved in/about 2015 by the project) from Gateway John Fisher to several other surety barons, including: Saher de Quincy (2nd trail), John Fitz Robert, Gilbert de Clare, Richard de Clare, John de Lacy, Hugh le Bigod, Roger Bigod, Robert de Vere and Henry de Bohun. that were re-reviewed/updated in April 2020. Another trail to Robert FitzWalter was badged in March 2022. See Fisher Trails to see the status of those profiles and trails.

See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".