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Sir Jonas Moore, FRS (1617–1679) was an English mathematician, Cadastral, ordnance officer, and patron of astronomy. He took part in two of the most ambitious English civil engineering projects of the 17th century: draining the Great Level of the Fens and building the Mole at Tangier. In later life, his wealth and influence as Surveyor-General of the Ordnance enabled him to become a patron and driving force behind the establishment of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
In the early 1660s, Moore worked mainly as a surveyor, mapping the River Thames from " Westminster to the sea" in 1662, his first commission from a government body.Willmoth, p. 128. From 1663, James, Duke of York became Moore's chief patron. In June, Moore visited Tangier (an English Tangier from 1661 to 1684) as part of a team to design a stone pier. During this time, he used an experimental sounding device provided by Robert Hooke to assist him in his project.Field, p. 128. On his return, he prepared a map with the title A Mapp of the Citty of Tanger with Straits of Gibraltar. Described by Jonas Moore Surveyor to his Royall Highness the Duke of York. When it was completed in March 1664, Samuel Pepys, an active member of the Tangiers Committee, was impressed with the map "which is very pleasant, and I purpose to have it finely set out and hung up."Willmoth, p. 134. Pepys's Diary, 26 March 1664.
The Surveyor's duties were not confined to land surveying; rather the main duty was to ensure availability of adequate stores, particularly guns and ammunition. During the Third Anglo-Dutch War, Moore met Prince Rupert at Nore (off the Thames Estuary) with 16 vessels loaded with powder and shot.Willmoth, p. 151. He received his knighthood on 28 January 1673, probably as a reward for his duties during the first year of the Third Dutch War. With the end of the war in 1674, Moore was able to pursue his interest in astronomy and attempted to gain support from the Royal Society for an observatory at Chelsea College.Thomas Birch, A History of the Royal Society, vol. 3 p. 139. Moore was elected to the Royal Society on 3 December 1674, but the proposal for an observatory at Chelsea came to nothing. He continued as an active member, and in May 1676 he was appointed a Vice-President of the Royal Society.Hunter, The Royal Society, p. 79.
When Charles II appointed John Flamsteed his " astronomical observator" on 4 March 1675, Flamsteed had already enjoyed Moore's patronage since 1670, when Moore presented him with a Towneley micrometer.Forbes, Eric et al., eds, (1995) The Correspondence of John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, volume 1, Institute of Physics Publishing, p. 114. The Ordnance Office was responsible for the building of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, which was completed in June 1676. Moore provided much of the Observatory's foundation equipment including the two "Great Clocks" by Thomas Tompion, out of his own pocket.Howse, Derek (1997) Greenwich Time and Longitude, Philip Wilson Publishers, pp. 45–49.
He was succeeded as Surveyor General of the Ordnance by his only son, also Jonas. Jonas junior died in 1682 and so it was the husbands of Moore's two daughters, rather than the son, who undertook the publication of the " New Systeme", which with the final parts being written by John Flamsteed and Edmond Halley, was completed in 1681. Despite his family's alleged adverse involvement with the Pendle Witches, he was one of the sponsors of a book by Dr John Webster entitled The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, which exposed the fallacies of the belief in witchcraft and played a large part in the cessation of prosecutions for witchcraft.
Both Sir Jonas Moore and his son were buried in the Church of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London.Dictionary of National Biography
Two of Moore's friends, Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke, were also associated with the Royal Observatory. By 1670, Moore had become a close friend of Hooke's;Field, p. 128. Moore and Hooke were among a small group that met at Wren's house as the "New Philosophicall Club" in 1676, at a time when the public's opinion of philosophers and the Royal Society was at a low ebb.Tinniswood, Adrian (2001) His Invention So Fertile: a life of Christopher Wren, Jonathan Cape, p. 229 Moore always looked for tangible results from Flamsteed's work at Greenwich: in July 1678, Moore threatened to stop Flamsteed's salary and compared his lack of published results unfavourably with the recent work by Edmond Halley.Forbes, Eric et al., pp. 642–46.
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