David Cresap Moore

David Cresap Moore (1925 – December 27, 2001) was an American historian of nineteenth century British political history.

Early life and education He was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, the son of an army colonel. He was educated at Shady Hill School, Choate Rosemary Hall and Institut Le Rosey, before enrolling in Princeton University in 1943. During World War II and in 1946, he served in the United States Navy in the South Pacific. Afterwards, he attended Columbia University and achieved a BS in history in 1950. After a two-year period of study at Cambridge University as a member of the Fulbright Program, in 1958 Moore was awarded a PhD. In 1994, he published a second edition, where he responded to critics who were sceptical about his claims for a deferential electorate. The historian Anthony Brundage has said: "Whatever one's views of the merits of his thesis, it cannot be doubted that he had launched an extraordinarily fruitful debate and permanently transformed scholarly thinking about the 19th-century British political system."

Personal life He was married to Sally Falk Moore, an anthropologist, and they had two daughters.

Works 'The Other Face of Reform', Victorian Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Sep., 1961), pp. 7–34. 'The Corn Laws and High Farming', The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 18, No. 3 (1965), pp. 544–561. 'Concession or Cure: The Sociological Premises of the First Reform Act', The Historical Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1 (1966), pp. 39–59. 'Social Structure, Politics Structure, and Public Opinion in Mid-Victorian England', in Robert Robson (ed.), Ideas and Institutions of Victorian England: Essays in Honour of George Kitson Clark (London: HarperCollins, 1967). 'Political Morality in Mid-Nineteenth Century England: Concepts, Norms, Violations', Victorian Studies, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Sep., 1969), pp. 5–36. (with E. P. Hennock), 'The Sociological Premises of the First Reform Act: A Critical Note', Victorian Studies, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Mar., 1971), pp. 321–337. 'The Matter of the Missing Contests: Towards a Theory of the Mid-19th Century British Political System', Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Summer, 1974), pp. 93–119. The Politics of Deference: A Study of the Mid-Nineteenth Century English Political System (Hassocks: Harvester Press, 1976). 'Is "The Other Face of Reform" in Bucks an "Hallucination"?', Journal of British Studies, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Spring, 1976), pp. 150–158. 'Some Thoughts on Thoroughness and Carefulness Suggested by Comparing the Reports of the Aylesbury Meeting of 24 February 1830 in the Times and the Bucks Gazette', Journal of British Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Autumn, 1977), pp. 141–142.