Moor Autograph Letters

The Moor autograph collection is largely comprised of autographed letters, but also includes passports, invitations, book orders, and a sermon. The collection was presented to the University by Professor Sir Henry Cohen in 1954, and is part of the autograph collection formed by Canon Allen Page Moor (bap. 1824-1904). The letters in the collection originate mainly from men of the church and individuals from the fields of Orientalism, Indology, and Philology.

Canon Moor's ecclesiastical career accounts for many of the letters. Many being from leading figures in the church, addressed to him or letters obtained through clerical friends. Correspondents include, John Erskine Clarke, Honorary Chaplain to Queen Victoria and Charles Thomas Longley, archbishop of Canterbury. The large number of letters from orientalists addressed to Dr Reinhold Rost (1822-1896), secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society and librarian of the India Office, are accounted for by the appointment as oriental lecturer at St Augustine's College which Rost held from 1851 until his death.

Other letters have been collected by Moor through his family connections. There are numerous letters within the collection addressed to Moor's father-in-law, the Reverend Cecil Wray, perpetual curate of St Martin's, Liverpool, 1836-1875. In addition, Moor's cousin William Page Wood (1801-1881), was an eminent lawyer and Liberal MP for Oxford. He became a Chancery judge in 1853, before being appointed Lord Chancellor in 1868, and created Baron Hatherley. Letters from this connection include, the British Prime Minister, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. As the letters from Mrs Burney and F. Naylor indicate, Canon Moor not only acquired his specimens through friends and family members, but also by exchange, purchase and gift.

Canon Allen Page Moor (bap. 1824-1904) was the son of Charles Moor solicitor of Woodbridge, Suffolk, and the nephew of Major Edward Moor, a well known writer on Hindu mythology and other oriental and philological subjects. He graduated B.A. From Trinity College, Cambridge in 1846, and became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in the same year. In 1848 Moor was ordained and was admitted ad eundem at Oxford in 1850. Moor was appointed fellow of St Augustine's College, Canterbury in 1847 and he was sub-warden of the College from 1849 to 1866. Canon Moor married, Eliza Harriet Wray in the year 1866, Wray was the daughter of the Reverend Cecil Wray, perpetual curate of St Martin's, Liverpool, 1836-1875 and his name appears frequently in the collection.

In 1861 he published a new edition of the plates to Hindu Pantheon written by his uncle, Major Edward Moor, and in 1869 he applied unsuccessfully for the post of librarian at Windsor Castle (see Moor/510 ). In 1872, when acting as sub-librarian of Canterbury Cathedral, he was appointed vicar of St Clement, two miles away from Truro, and he received the title of Honorary Canon of Truro in 1883. From 1896, when Moor resigned his benefice, to 1898 he acted as chaplain of legation at Tangier.

The original arrangement of the material by Moor has been retained. The items are arranged alphabetically by correspondent.

The collection is open to bona fide researchers.

Professor Sir Henry Cohen.

A finding aid is available in the reading room.

Licensing and reproduction rules available on request.

The autograph collection was created by Canon Moor and passed to his wife upon his death in 1904. On Mrs Moor's death in 1937 the collection was examined by the late H. Miles Fowler, librarian of Truro Public Library. The collection was then put up for auction at Sothebys and was bought by Professor Sir Henry Cohen in 1954. It was presented by Sir Cohen, in the same year to the University of Liverpool.

There are no anticipated accruals.

The National Library of Scotland Manuscript Collections hold miscellaneous correspondence of Allen Page Moor dating from 1851-1892

Canterbury Cathedral Archives hold a reading journal relating to Allen Page Moor dating from 1851-1903.