Richard More O'Ferrall, (10 April 1797 – 27 October 1880) was an Irish politician, a high level British government official and a Governor of Malta. Born to a noble Irish Catholic family at Balyna, he was the eldest son and heir of Ambrose More O'Ferrall. Educated at Stonyhurst College and St Gregory's, Acton Burnell, More O'Ferrall entered politics young, becoming Member of Parliament for Kildare in 1830. In 1839, More O'Ferrall married Matilda, daughter of The 3rd Viscount Southwell, KP. After holding many senior roles, he was appointed Governor of Malta in 1847, a post he held until 1851. He was known to be a very honourable man and was made a deputy lieutenant and a justice of the peace as well as a Member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. He stepped down as a Member of Parliament for Kildare in 1865. More O'Ferrall was widely respected, both in Ireland and Great Britain and has been praised for his achievements while Governor of Malta.
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Early life
Richard More O'Ferrall was born in Balyna in Moyvalley, County Kildare, Ireland, the eldest son of Major Ambrose O'Ferrall (1752–1835)- of an eminent Irish family of ancient lineage whose ancestors, the O'Mores, ruled the county of Laois- and his first wife, Anne Bagot, daughter of John Bagot, patriarch of another prominent Catholic family based at Castle Bagot, County Dublin. The ancestral home of the More O'Ferrall family is Balyna House, on the land given to the family as a New Year's gift by Elizabeth I in 1574. More O'Ferrall was directly related to two of the most famous Lords of Laois, Ruairí Óg Ó Mórdha and Rory O'Moore. He grew up on the family estate of Balyna, in Kildare and attended St Gregory's, Acton Burnell and Stonyhurst College. He was elected to the British House of Commons in 1832, and represented the Constituencies of County Kildare from 10 December 1832 to 29 July 1847, and subsequently Longford from 21 April 1851 to 7 July 1852 and Kildare again from 28 April 1859 to 11 July 1865.
Career
He was elected to the British House of Commons in 1832, and represented the Constituencies of County Kildare from 10 December 1832 to 29 July 1847, and subsequently Longford from 21 April 1851 to 7 July 1852 and Kildare again from 28 April 1859 to 11 July 1865.
Under the Whig administration of Lord Melbourne, He entered the Government as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury in 1835, and remained so until 1837.
He was a close friend of Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman. O'Ferrall served as a trustee of the Catholic College, St. Patrick's College, Maynooth.
On 28 September 1839, More O'Ferrall married Matilda (died 1882), the second daughter of The 3rd Viscount Southwell, KP. The couple had a son, Ambrose, and a daughter, Maria Anne, who married the Crimean War hero Sir Walter Nugent, 2nd Baronet, of Donore, County Westmeath, eldest son of Sir Percy Fitzgerald Nugent, 1st Baronet.
A week after his marriage, on 4 October 1839, More O'Ferrall was appointed to the Government as First Secretary of the Royal Navy, a post he retained until June 1841, when he briefly became Secretary to the Treasury. In October 1847 he became Governor of Malta. and, in 1841, Secretary to the Treasury. In 1847 he was the first civilian to hold the post of Governor of Malta. As such he helped develop the island into one of Britain's most important strategic naval bases. He also secured the passing of a new Constitution for Malta in 1849, which effectively allowed for Maltese home rule. On 12 September 1851 More O'Ferrall resigned as governor, refusing to serve under Lord John Russell, whose Ecclesiastical Titles Act was designed to prevent a restoration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England.
Death
More O'Ferrall died on 27 October 1880 in Kingstown (present-day Dún Laoghaire), County Dublin. He had been a magistrate, grand juror, politician, aristocrat, governor and deputy-lieutenant for his native country. At his death, he was the oldest member of the Irish Privy Council. He was succeeded by his only son Ambrose (1846-1911), who in April 1880 unsuccessfully contested county Kildare as a Liberal.
