View source for Charles Fitzgerald

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Similar names|Charles Fitzgerald (disambiguation)}}
{{short description|Irish military officer and civil servant}}
{{Infobox officeholder
 |honorific_prefix   = [[Captain (Royal Navy)|Captain]]
 |name               = Charles Fitzgerald
 |honorific_suffix   = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CB}}
 |image              = Charles Fitzgerald.jpg
 |office1            = [[Governor of Western Australia]]
 |term1              = {{start and end dates|1848|08|12|1855|07|22|df=y}}
 |predecessor1       = [[Frederick Chidley Irwin]]
 |successor1         = [[Sir Arthur Kennedy]]
 |office2            = [[Governor of The Gambia]]
 |term2              = {{start and end dates|1844|12|09|1847|04|18|df=y}}
 |predecessor2       = Edmund Nash Norcott
 |successor2         = [[Richard Graves MacDonnell|Sir Richard MacDonnell]]
 |birth_date         = Unknown date, {{circa|1791}}
 |birth_place        = [[Kilkee]], [[County Clare]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Ireland]]
 |death_date         = {{death date and given age|1887|12|29|96|df=y}}
 |death_place        = Kilkee, County Clare, Ireland
 |branch_label       = Branch
 |branch             = {{plainlist|
* {{coast guard|United Kingdom|name=HM Coastguard|size=20px}}
* {{navy|United Kingdom|size=20px}}}}
 |serviceyears_label = Service&nbsp;years
 |serviceyears       = 1809–1856
 |rank               = [[Captain (Royal Navy)|Captain]]
}}

'''Charles Fitzgerald''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CB}} ({{circa|1791}}&nbsp;– 29 December 1887) was an officer in the British [[Royal Navy]] and [[Colonial Heads of The Gambia|Governor of The Gambia]] from 1844 until 1847, then [[Governor of Western Australia]] from 1848 to 1855.<ref name="adb">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Charles FitzGerald (1791–1887) |encyclopedia=Australian Dictionary of Biography |last=Crowley |first=F}}</ref>

Son of Robert Fitzgerald and Lucinda Jackson of Kilkee, county Clare, Ireland (then part of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]), Fitzgerald joined the Royal Navy in March&nbsp;1809, passed his examination in 1815, and was commissioned in March&nbsp;1826.<ref name=adb/> While in the naval service Fitzgerald was assigned to the Royal Navy's [[West Africa Squadron]] which was tasked with interdicting the Atlantic slave trade, where he served with distinction.<ref name="adb" />

Either during this time or possibly before, Fitzgerald became a staunch abolitionist and fierce opponent of slavery. In 1839 he seized two Spanish slave ships falsely flying the American flag. For legal reasons he escorted the ships to New York where the courts ruled them to be unlawful and Fitzgerald was allowed to take the freed slaves back to Sierra Leone. Severe weather resulted in a number of deaths during the return voyage.<ref name="Kilkee Heritage" />  Subsequently Fitzgerald became involved in the notorious [[United States v. The Amistad|Amistad incident]] which was dramatized in the 1997 film ''[[Amistad (film)|Amistad]]''; Fitzgerald was portrayed by actor [[Peter Firth]]. In 1840 he was sent home, promoted to the rank of commander and placed on half pay for medical reasons.<ref name="adb" /><ref name="Kilkee Heritage">{{Cite web |last=McGann |first=Yvonne |date=2024-03-21 |title=Captain Charles Fitzgerald |url=https://kilkee.clareheritage.org/people/captain-charles-fitzgerald |access-date=2024-06-24 |website=Kilkee Heritage Past and Present}}</ref> 

In 1844 Fitzgerald was appointed as the colonial governor of British Gambia. His three-year tenure as governor was largely unremarkable although he gained a reputation for being sympathetic to the native population and was seen as something of a reformist.<ref name="Kilkee Heritage" /> 

Fitzgerald's administration of Western Australia saw numerous public works projects and an active campaign to encourage immigration by both voluntary colonists and convicts. This resulted in a dramatic improvement in infrastructure as well as an increase in population from roughly 5,000 to 12,000 at the end of his governorship.<ref name="adb" /><ref name="Kilkee Heritage" /> Soon after his arrival in Western Australia in 1848, Fitzgerald accompanied [[Augustus Gregory]] on an expedition in the [[Northampton, Western Australia|Northampton]] region where Gregory and his brother had discovered [[lead]] the year before. An encounter with [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal people]] resulted in Fitzgerald being speared in the leg and at least three Aborigines shot dead.<ref>{{cite Q |Q125995168 |mode=cs1 |last= |first= |author-link= |chapter= }}</ref>{{rp|p=97}}

Following his return to England, his tenure as governor was reviewed with satisfaction and he was made a Companion of the [[Order of the Bath]] in 1857. After which Fitzgerald retired to his home in Kilkee Ireland where he died on December 29, 1887 at 96, an unusually advanced age for the time.<ref name="adb" />

The town of [[Geraldton, Western Australia]], was named after him.<ref name=adb/>

==General references==
{{refbegin |30em}}
* {{cite Australasia|Fitzgerald, Captain Charles}}
* {{cite wikisource |first=William Richard |last=O'Byrne |chapter=Fitzgerald, Charles |title=A Naval Biographical Dictionary |year=1849 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]}}
{{refend}}

==References==
{{reflist |30em}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Frederick Chidley Irwin]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  = [[Governor of Western Australia]]
       |years  = 1848–1855}}
{{s-aft|after  = [[Sir Arthur Kennedy]]}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Edmund Nash Norcott]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  = [[Governor of The Gambia]]
       |years  = 1844–1847}}
{{s-aft|after  = [[Richard Graves MacDonnell|Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Governors of Western Australia}}
{{Governors of the Gambia}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Charles}}
[[Category:1790s births]]
[[Category:1887 deaths]]
[[Category:Royal Navy captains]]
[[Category:Colony of Western Australia people]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Governors of the Gambia]]
[[Category:Governors of Western Australia]]
[[Category:Irish abolitionists]]