View source for Lord Edward FitzGerald

{{Short description|Irish nationalist (1763–1798)}}
{{For|other people with this name|Edward FitzGerald (disambiguation){{!}}Edward Fitzgerald}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Lord Edward FitzGerald.
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1763|10|15|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Carton House]], [[County Kildare]], [[Kingdom of Ireland]]
| death_date    = {{death date and age|df=y|1798|6|4|1763|10|15}}
| death_place   = [[Newgate Prison, Dublin]], Kingdom of Ireland
| placeofburial = [[St. Werburgh's Church, Dublin|St. Werburgh's Church]]
| image         = LordEdwardFitzgerald.jpg
| caption       = 
| nickname      = 
| allegiance    = {{Flag|Kingdom of Great Britain}} <br /> [[Image:Green harp flag of Ireland.svg|23x23px]] [[United Irishmen]]
| branch        = {{army|Kingdom of Great Britain}}
| serviceyears  = 1779–1790
| rank          = [[Major (rank)|Major]]
| unit          = 
| commands      = 
| battles       = [[Battle of Eutaw Springs]]
| awards        = 
| spouse        = [[Lady Edward FitzGerald|Stéphanie Caroline Anne Syms]]
| children      = {{ubl | Edward Fox | [[Pamela, Lady Campbell]] | Lucy Louisa}}
| relations     = {{ubl | [[James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster]] (father) | [[Emily FitzGerald, Duchess of Leinster|Lady Emilia Mary Lennox]] (mother) | [[William FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster]] (brother) }}
| laterwork     = 
}}

'''Lord Edward FitzGerald''' (15 October 1763 – 4 June 1798) was an Irish aristocrat and revolutionary proponent of Irish independence from Britain. He abandoned his prospects as a distinguished veteran of British service in the [[American War of Independence]], and as an [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliamentarian]], to embrace the cause in Ireland of Catholic-Protestant reconciliation and of a sovereign republic. Unable to reconcile with Ireland's [[Protestant Ascendancy]] or with the [[Kingdom of Ireland|Kingdom]]'s [[Dublin Castle administration|English-appointed administration]], he sought inspiration in the [[American Revolution]] and in [[French First Republic|revolutionary France]] where, in 1792, he met and befriended [[Thomas Paine]]. From 1796 he became a leading proponent within the [[Society of United Irishmen]] of a French-assisted insurrection. On the eve of the [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|intended uprising]] in May 1798, he was fatally wounded in the course of arrest.

==Early years==
FitzGerald, the fifth  son of the [[James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster|1st Duke of Leinster]] and the [[Lady Emily Lennox]] (daughter of [[Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond]]), was born at [[Carton House]], near [[Dublin]], and was a member of the [[Fitzgerald dynasty]]. In 1773 his father died and his mother soon afterwards married [[William Ogilvie (Ardglass)|William Ogilvie]], who had been the tutor for him and his siblings.{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=443}} He spent most of his childhood in [[Frescati House]] at [[Blackrock, Dublin|Blackrock]] in Dublin where he was tutored by Ogilvie in a manner chiefly directed to the acquisition of knowledge that would fit him for a military career.<ref name=Webb>{{Cite web |url=http://www.libraryireland.com/biography/LordEdwardFitzGerald.php |title=Webb, Alfred. "Lord Edward Fitzgerald", ''A Compendium of Irish Biography'', M.H. Gill & Son, Dublin, 1878 |access-date=18 September 2014 |archive-date=9 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609011406/http://www.libraryireland.com/biography/LordEdwardFitzGerald.php |url-status=live }}</ref>

==American War of Independence==
FitzGerald joined the [[British Army]] in 1779 and then became [[aide-de-camp]] on the staff of [[Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings|Lord Rawdon]] in the [[southern theater of the American Revolutionary War|southern theatre of the American Revolutionary War]]. He was wounded in the leg at the [[Battle of Eutaw Springs]] on 8 September 1781, and was carried off the field by an escaped slave named Tony Small (see [[Black Loyalist]]).{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=443}}<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Tony Small |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/tony-small |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=American Battlefield Trust |language=en}}</ref>  Small was a free man at the end of the war, and Lord Edward employed him from then on, and the two travelled together back to Europe.{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=443}}{{sfn|Tillyard|1998|p={{page needed|date=May 2013}}}}<ref>portrait "[http://www.jimandellen.org/ellen/TonySmallJohnRoberts.jpg Tony Small] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811035054/http://www.jimandellen.org/ellen/TonySmallJohnRoberts.jpg |date=11 August 2019 }}" (1786) by John Roberts.</ref> FitzGerald was evacuated from [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], [[South Carolina]] in 1782 when the British forces abandoned the city.<ref name=":1" /> Webb surmises that the success of the American colonists in fighting against regular troops led him in later years to the conviction that his countrymen in Ireland could cope with them with a similar result.<ref name=Webb/>

In 1783, he visited the [[West Indies]], before returning to Ireland where, in the autumn of that year, his brother William, the [[William FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster|2nd Duke of Leinster]], had procured Edward's election to the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]] as a Member for [[Athy (Parliament of Ireland constituency)|Athy]].<ref name="Webb" /> He held the seat, as a supporter of [[Henry Grattan]]'s [[Irish Patriot Party|Patriot opposition]], until 1790 (when he was replaced by his brother Henry).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Walsh |first=Colm |date=2011 |title=Betrayed in Life and Death, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, his Life and Legacy |url=https://kildarelibraries.ie/ehistory/betrayed-in-life-and-death/ |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=Kildare eHistory Journal |language=en-GB}}</ref> 

==Explorer in the New World==
In the spring of 1786, Fitzgerald  took the then unusual step for a young nobleman of entering the [[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]], after which he made a tour through [[Kingdom of Spain (1700-1808)|Spain]] in 1787. Dejected, in England, by unrequited love for his cousin Georgina Lennox (who later married the [[Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst|3rd Earl Bathurst]]),<ref name="Moore">[https://archive.org/stream/lifedeathoflorde01mooriala/lifedeathoflorde01mooriala_djvu.txt Moore, Thomas. "Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald: In Two Volumes", Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green, London, 1831]</ref> accompanied by Small in 1788 he joined the 54th Regiment in [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]], then a resettlement site for thousands of free [[Black Loyalist|‘loyalist’ blacks]], before proceeding to the garrison in New Brunswick.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=McKenna |first=Laura |date=2020 |title=‘Every man is exactly what he makes himself’ |url=https://historyireland.com/every-man-is-exactly-what-he-makes-himself/ |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=History Ireland |language=en-US}}</ref> 

During their eighteen months in North America, Fitzgerald and Small, guided by a compass, traversed the country from [[Fredericton, New Brunswick]] to [[Quebec]], crossed [[Upper Canada]] to [[Detroit]], where Fitzgerald was honoured with some kind of honorary affiliation (not strictly adopted as has been claimed) given the name "Eghnidal", by the chief of the Bear clan of the [[Mohawk people|Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk)]], [[Colonel Guy Johnson and Karonghyontye (Captain David Hill)|Karonghyontye (Captain David Hill)]], and made his way down the [[Mississippi]] to [[New Orleans]], whence they returned to England.<ref name="Moore" />{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=444}} Of the frontier society he encountered, Fitzgerald commented: "The equality of everybody and their manner of life I like very much. There are no gentlemen, everybody is on a footing".<ref name=":2" />

==Re-enters politics==
In 1790, Fitzgerald turned down the command of an expedition against [[Cádiz]] offered him by [[William Pitt the Younger|Pitt]], observing that the promotion would require him to vote in Parliament with the government and against his convictions.<ref name="Webb" /> Instead, replaced by his brother Henry as MP for Athy, he was returned to the [[Irish House of Commons]] from [[County Kildare (Parliament of Ireland constituency)|County Kildare]], frequently returning to visit family in England where he  entered into intimate terms with his first cousin [[Charles James Fox|Charles Fox]], with [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan|Richard Sheridan]] and other leading [[British Whig Party|Whigs]].<ref name=":3" />

His Whig connections, together with his transatlantic experiences, predisposed Fitzgerald to sympathise with the doctrines of the [[French Revolution]], which he embraced enthusiastically when he visited Paris in October 1792. He lodged with [[Thomas Paine]] and listened to the debates in the Convention. At a convivial gathering on 18 November, he supported a toast to "the speedy abolition of all hereditary titles and feudal distinctions",{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=444}} and gave proof of his zeal by expressly repudiating his own title, a performance for which he was dismissed from the army.{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=444}}

==Marries on the Continent==
[[File:Portrait of Pamela, later Lady Edward Fitzgerald (1773-1831) (by George Romney).jpg|thumb|Pamela, later Lady Edward Fitzgerald (1773-1831), painting by [[George Romney (painter)|George Romney]], 1792.]]

According to [[Thomas Moore]], Lord Edward FitzGerald was the only one of the numerous suitors of Sheridan's first wife, [[Elizabeth Ann Linley|Elizabeth]], whose attentions were received with favour; and it is certain that, whatever may have been its limits, a warm mutual affection subsisted between the two.{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=444}} She conceived a child by him, a baby girl who was born on 30 March 1792<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|first=Suzanne|last=Aspden|title=Linley [Sheridan], Elizabeth Ann (1754–1792)|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/25364|edition=online, May 2009|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25364|access-date=6 August 2017|url-access=subscription}}</ref> but who died in October of the following year.

While in Paris, FitzGerald became enamoured of a young girl whom he chanced to see at the theatre, and who is said to have had a striking likeness to Elizabeth Sheridan. He discovered her to be a protégée of [[Stéphanie Félicité, comtesse de Genlis]] (Madame de Genlis, also known by her other titles as Madame de Sillery and after the revolution citizeness Brûlart) who had achieved fame as a writer and had been responsible for the education of the children of [[Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans]]. The girl, whose name was Ann (Nancy) Sims but was commonly known as [[Lady Edward FitzGerald|Pamela]] (1773–1831), was commonly believed to be the daughter from a relationship between the duke and Mme de Genlis, but there is some evidence to support the story of Madame de Genlis that Pamela was born in [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mather |first=Laura |url=https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/bitstream/handle/10395/2120/Mather%2C%20L.%20%282017%29%20The%20Life%20and%20Networks%20of%20Pamela%20Fitzgerald%2C%201773-1831.%20MA.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y |title=The Life and Networks of Pamela Fitzgerald, 1773-1831 |publisher=University of Limerick, M.A. Thesis in History |year=2017 |pages=26}}</ref> On 27 December 1792, FitzGerald and Pamela were married at [[Tournai]], one of the witnesses being [[Louis-Philippe of France|Louis Philippe]], afterwards King of the French;<ref>{{cite book |title=The Perilous Crown: France Between Revolutions, 1814–1848 |last=Price |first=Munro |year=2008 |isbn=978-0330426381 |pages=33–34}}</ref> and in January 1793 the couple reached Dublin.{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=444}}

==Return to Ireland==
[[File:Lord Edward Fitzgerald by Hugh Douglas Hamilton.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Edward FitzGerald by [[Hugh Douglas Hamilton]], 1796. [[National Portrait Gallery, London]].]]

In 1793, on his return from Paris, Lord Edward fresh from the gallery of the Convention in [[Paris]], returned to his seat in the Irish Parliament and immediately began his attack on government. He was required to apologise at the bar of the House of Commons for denouncing a Government proclamation which [[Henry Grattan|Grattan]] had approved for the suppression of the [[Society of United Irishmen|United-Irish]] attempt to revive the [[Irish Volunteers (18th century)|Irish Volunteer]] movement as a French-model "National Guard".<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Moore|first=Thomas|title=The Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald|publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, Vol. 1|year=1831|location=London|pages=210}}</ref> However, it was not until 1796 that he joined the [[United Irishmen]], who by now had given up as hopeless the path of constitutional reform and whose aim, after the recall of [[William FitzWilliam, 4th Earl FitzWilliam|Lord FitzWilliam]] in 1795, was nothing less than the establishment of an independent Irish republic.{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=444}}

==Revolutionary activities==
In May 1796, while [[Theobald Wolfe Tone]] was in [[Paris]] endeavouring to obtain French assistance for an insurrection in Ireland, FitzGerald and his friend [[Arthur O'Connor (United Irishman)|Arthur O'Connor]] proceeded to Hamburg, where they opened negotiations with the [[French Directory]] through Reinhard, French minister to the [[Hanseatic League|Hanseatic]] towns, and through Finnish nobleman [[Johan Anders Jägerhorn]] (or baron de Spurila, as he called himself).<ref>Bruno Lesch (1941), ''Jan Anders Jägerhorn, - Patriot och världsmedborgare, separatist och emigrant''. Svenska Litteratursällskapet i Finland, Helsingfors</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cLAVJdLgD_0C |title=Memories and Correspondence of Viscount Castlereagh |publisher=John Murray |year=1853 |editor-last=Marquess of Londonderry |editor-first=Charles William Vane |location=London |pages=260}}</ref> The [[Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany|Duke of York]], meeting Pamela at [[Devonshire House]] on her way through London with her husband, had told her that "all was known" about his plans, and advised her to persuade him not to go abroad. The government in London was kept apprised of Fitzgerald's contacts in Hamburg, which contributed to [[Lazare Hoche|Hoche]]'s abortive [[French expedition to Ireland (1796)|expedition to Ireland]] in December 1796, by his host, the informer, [[Samuel Turner (informer)|Samuel Turner]].{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=444}}

In September 1797, the Government learnt that, back in Dublin, that Lord Edward was among those on the [[Leinster]] directory of the [[United Irishmen]] urging an insurrection. He was the colonel, or county chief, in the republicans' [[County Kildare|Kildare]] "regiment" and as head of the directory's military committee, in February 1798, had computed the number United Irishmen prepared to rise nationwide, at 269,896.<ref name=":14">{{Cite journal |last=Curtin |first=Nancy J. |date=1985 |title=The Transformation of the Society of United Irishmen into a Mass-Based Revolutionary Organisation, 1794-6 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30008756 |journal=Irish Historical Studies |volume=24 |issue=96 |pages=463–492, 488 |doi=10.1017/S0021121400034477 |issn=0021-1214 |jstor=30008756 |s2cid=148429477|url-access=subscription }}</ref> While acknowledging their deficiency in arms, he was among the advocates of action in advance of a further French attempt on Ireland, with some evidence that he favoured a plan for the massacre of the Irish peers while in procession to the [[Irish House of Lords|House of Lords]] for the trial of [[Robert King, 2nd Earl of Kingston|Lord Kingston]] in May 1798.{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=444}}

==Net tightens==
It was probably abhorrence of such measures that converted Fitzgerald's confidante, Thomas Reynolds, from a co-conspirator to an informer; at all events, Reynolds and several others, kept the authorities posted on what was going on, though lack of evidence produced in court delayed the arrest of the ringleaders. But on 12 March 1798 Reynolds' information led to the seizure of a number of conspirators at the house of [[Oliver Bond]]. Lord Edward FitzGerald, warned by Reynolds, was not among them.{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=444}}

As a fellow member of the [[Protestant Ascendancy|Ascendancy]] class, the Government were anxious to make an exception for FitzGerald, avoiding the embarrassing and dangerous consequences of his subversive activities. They communicated their willingness to spare him from the normal fate meted out to traitors. The Lord Chancellor, [[John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare|Lord Clare]], said to a member of his family, "For God's sake get this young man out of the country; the ports shall be thrown open, and no hindrance whatever offered".{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=444}}

FitzGerald, however, refused to desert others who could not escape, and whom he had himself led into danger. On 30 March the government proclamation of [[martial law]] authorising the military to act as they saw fit to crush the [[United Irishmen]] led to a campaign of vicious brutality in several parts of the country. This forced the United Irish executive to bring forward plans for the rising, with or without French aid.{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=444}}

==Arrest and death==
[[File:The Arrest of Lord Edward Fitzgerald by George Cruikshank.jpg|thumbnail|400px|right|''Arrest of Lord Edward FitzGerald'' ([[George Cruikshank]])]]
Lord Edward FitzGerald's social position made him the most important United Irish leader still at liberty. On 9 May a reward of £1,000 was offered by [[Dublin Castle]] for his apprehension. Since the arrests at Bond's, FitzGerald had been in hiding, but had twice visited his [[Lady Pamela FitzGerald|wife]] in disguise and was himself visited by his stepfather Ogilvie and his friend [[William Lawless]]; he generally observed less caution than his situation required. Meanwhile, the date for the rising was finally fixed for 23 May and FitzGerald awaited the day hidden{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=444}} by Mary Moore above her family's inn in Thomas Street Dublin.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Women's Museum of Ireland {{!}} Articles {{!}} Mary Moore|url=https://womensmuseumofireland.ie/articles/mary-moore|access-date=2021-04-30|website=womensmuseumofireland.ie|archive-date=30 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430125247/https://womensmuseumofireland.ie/articles/mary-moore|url-status=live}}</ref>

Tipped off that the house was going to be raided, Moore turned to [[Francis Magan]], a Catholic barrister and trusted sympathiser, who agreed to hide Fitzgerald. Making their way to Magan's on 18 May, Fitzgerald's party was challenged by Major [[Henry Charles Sirr (town major)|Henry Sirr]] and a company of Dumbarton Fencibles. Moore escaped with Fitzgerald ([[William Putnam McCabe]] and other of his bodyguard were arrested) and took him back to Thomas Street to the house of Nicholas Murphy.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Lyons|first=Dr Jane|date=2013-03-02|title=An Account of the Arrest of Lord Edward Fitzgerald|url=https://www.from-ireland.net/account-arrest-lord-edward-fitzgerald/|access-date=2021-04-30|website=From-Ireland.net|language=en-US|archive-date=30 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430183021/https://www.from-ireland.net/account-arrest-lord-edward-fitzgerald/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Moore explained to Magan what had happened and, unbeknownst to her, Magan informed Dublin Castle. The Moores were raided that day. Mary, running to warn the Leinster Directory meeting nearby in James's Gate, received a bayonet cut across the shoulders.<ref name=":0" />

That same evening Sirr stormed Murphy's house where Lord Edward was in bed suffering from a fever. Alerted by the commotion, FitzGerald jumped out of bed and, ignoring the pleas of the arresting officers Captain William Bellingham Swan (later assistant town Major of Dublin) and Captain Daniel Frederick Ryan to surrender peacefully, FitzGerald stabbed Swan and mortally wounded Ryan with a dagger in a desperate attempt to escape. He was secured only after Major Sirr shot him in the shoulder.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Capture a blow to United Irishmen|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/capture-a-blow-to-united-irishmen-1.155699|access-date=2021-06-09|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en}}</ref>

After a brief detention in [[Dublin Castle]] he was taken to [[Newgate Prison, Dublin]] where his wound, which had become infected, became mortally inflamed. His wife, whom the government probably had enough evidence to convict of treason,{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=445}} had fled the country, never to see her husband again, but Lord Edward's brother Henry and his aunt [[Lady Louisa Conolly]] were allowed to see him in his last moments. Lord Edward died at the age of 34 on 4 June 1798 as the [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|rebellion]] raged outside. He was buried the next day in the crypt of [[St Werburgh's Church, Dublin]]. An [[Bill of attainder|Act of Attainder]] confiscating his property was passed as 38 Geo. 3 c. 77, but was eventually repealed in 1819.{{sfn|McNeill|1911|pp=444–445}}{{sfn|Alger|1889|p=111}}

The weapon used by Lord Edward to attack Captains Swan and Ryan while trying to escape arrest was later stolen from Major Swan's house by Emma Lucretia Dobbin, the daughter of Rev. William Dobbin and Catherine Coote.<ref>{{Citation|journal=[[Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland]]|volume=41 |year=1911 |pages=376–379 |title=Lord Edward Fitz Gerald's Dagger |author=J. Grene Barry}}</ref> The scabbard he reputedly had at his arrest is held at [[Limerick Museum]].

==Character assessment==
There is evidence that, shortly after his death, Fitzgerald's sister, Lady Lucy FitzGerald, intended to publish a statement. The following was found among her papers but there is no evidence that it was ever printed:
{{blockquote|Irishmen, Countrymen, it is Edward FitzGerald's sister who addresses you: it is a woman but that woman is his sister: she would therefore die for you as he did. I don't mean to remind you of what he did for you. 'Twas no more than his duty. Without ambition he resigned every blessing this world could afford to be of use to you, to his Countrymen whom he loved better than himself, but in this he did no more than his duty; he was a [[List of ethnic slurs#P|Paddy]] and no more; he desired no other title than this.{{sfn|Bourke|2002|p=59}}}}

Fitzgerald was of small stature and handsome features. In the opinion of the McNeill biography in the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|''Encyclopædia Britannica'' eleventh edition]] (1911) Fitzgerald's character and career have been made the subject of eulogies much beyond their merits.{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=445}}

The same writer claims:

{{blockquote|He had, indeed, a winning personality, and a warm, affectionate and generous nature, which made him greatly beloved by his family and friends; he was humorous, light-hearted, sympathetic, adventurous. But he was entirely without the weightier qualities requisite for such a part as he undertook to play in public affairs. Hotheaded and impulsive, he lacked judgement. He was as conspicuously deficient in the statesmanship as he was in the oratorical genius of such men as Flood, Plunket or Grattan. One of his associates in conspiracy described him as 'weak and not fit to command a sergeant's guard, but very zealous'.{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=445}} Reinhard, who considered Arthur O'Connor 'a far abler man', accurately read the character of Fitzgerald as that of a young man "incapable of falsehood or perfidy, frank, energetic, and likely to be a useful and devoted instrument; but with no experience or extraordinary talent, and entirely unfit to be chief of a great party or leader in a difficult enterprise.{{sfn|McNeill|1911|p=445}}}}

This opinion is not that held in Ireland, where Fitzgerald is remembered as brave and sweet-natured, a clever planner, and a tragic loss. His funeral is described:<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/new-light-on-lord-edward-fitzgerald/|title = New Light on Lord Edward Fitzgerald|date = 6 February 2013|access-date = 16 January 2016|archive-date = 11 October 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151011055223/http://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/new-light-on-lord-edward-fitzgerald/|url-status = live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Keen to avoid any display of the enormous popular feeling towards Lord Edward, Castlereagh ensured that the funeral took place in secret at 2am and that the body was not allowed to return to Kildare. On its way to St Werburgh’s in the shadow of the Castle, the funeral was frequently stopped and searched by parties of soldiers. Even after the lead coffin was laid in the vault at dead of night, the mourners were obliged to stay in the church until passes could be procured}}

==Family==
Apart from the daughter born to him by Elizabeth Sheridan in 1792, Lord Edward FitzGerald had the following children with his wife Pamela:

* Edward Fox FitzGerald (10 October 1794 – 25 January 1863) who married on 6 November 1827 to Jane Paul (died 2 November 1891)
* [[Lady Pamela Campbell|Pamela FitzGerald]] (1795/1796 - 25 November 1869), married on 21 November 1820 [[Sir Guy Campbell, 1st Baronet]] (died 26 January 1849)
* Lucy Louisa FitzGerald (1798 - September 1826), married on 5 September 1825 [[Captain (naval)|Capt.]] [[George Francis Lyon]] (died 8 October 1832).{{sfn|Copland-Griffiths|1908|p=264}}

==Commemoration==
[[File:Statue of Lord Edward FitzGerald - 2025-06-29.jpg|thumb|Statue of Lord Edward FitzGerald at [[Kildare]]]]
There are three contemporary portraits of Fitzgerald, two held in the [[National Gallery of Ireland]] in Dublin,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Portrait of Lord Edward FitzGerald (1763-1798) |url=http://onlinecollection.nationalgallery.ie/objects/details/4926;jsessionid=A96CB3DA6016FE79C056FE4B2EF06A77 |access-date=2025-07-15 |website=onlinecollection.nationalgallery.ie |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Painting |url=https://collections.nationalmuseumsni.org/object-belum-u4975 |access-date=2025-07-15 |website=Explore our Collections |language=en}}</ref> and one in the [[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]] in London.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NPG 5704; Lord Edward Fitzgerald - Portrait Extended - National Portrait Gallery |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitExtended/mw07363/Lord-Edward-Fitzgerald#:~:text=Hone%20ARA/Pinxt%201797,Provenance |access-date=2025-07-15 |website=www.npg.org.uk}}</ref> There is a 1798 bi-centenary bronze bust commemorating him in the Market Square in [[Kildare]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kildare County Council Arts Service - Public Art |url=https://kildarecoco.ie/ArtsService/PublicArt/MainImage,19935,en.html#:~:text=Project:%20Public%20Artwork:%20'1798,choice%20for%20siteing%20the%20sculpture. |access-date=2025-07-15 |website=kildarecoco.ie}}</ref>

In several places in Ireland – [[Dublin]], [[Limerick]], [[Sligo]], [[Kilkenny]], [[Ballina, County Mayo|Ballina]], [[Ballymote]], and Ballycullenbeg in [[County Laois]] – there are streets named in his honour .

The [[County Roscommon]] [[Gaelic Athletic Association|GAA]] club [[Tulsk]] Lord Edward's is named after Fitzgerald. The [[Geraldine Moran's GAA|Geraldines P. Moran GAA club]] in [[Cornelscourt]] in Dublin is also partly named after him.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{Cite DNB|last=Alger |first= John Goldworth |wstitle=Fitzgerald, Edward (1763-1798)  <!--NB dash not ndash on wikisource--> |display=Fitzgerald, Edward (1763–1798) |volume=19 |pages=110–111}}
*{{Citation |last=Bourke |first=Angela |year=2002 |title=The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing |page=59 |publisher=NYU Press}}
*{{Citation |last=Copland-Griffiths |first=Frederick |date=3 October 1908|journal= Notes and Queries |title=Sir William Neville Hart and his Descendants |volume=10 S. X.  |page=264}}
*{{Citation |last=Tillyard |first=Stella |year=1998 |title=Citizen lord : the life of Edward Fitzgerald, Irish revolutionary |publisher=Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |location=New York |isbn=978-0-374-12383-3 |edition=1st American |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/citizenlordlifeo00till }}

'''Attribution:'''
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Fitzgerald, Lord Edward |volume=10 |pages=443–445 |first=Ronald John |last=McNeill |author-link=Ronald McNeill, 1st Baron Cushendun}}

==Further reading==
*{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Fitzgerald, Edward (patriot)|display=Fitzgerald, Lord Edward, Irish patriot|year=1900}}

Encyclopædia Britannica eleventh edition in an endnote included the following sources:
** Thomas Moore, ''Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald'' (2 vols., London, 1832), also a revised edition entitled ''The Memoirs of Lord Edward Fitzgerald'', edited with supplementary particulars by Martin MacDermott (London, 1897) (A [[public domain]] [[online]] version of this, scanned for a [[Google]] project, can be found [https://archive.org/stream/memoirslordedwa00macdgoog/memoirslordedwa00macdgoog_djvu.txt here])
** R. R. Madden, ''The United Irishmen'' (7 vols., Dublin, 1842–46)
** C. H. Teelin ''Personal Narrative of the Irish Rebellion of 1798'' (Belfast, 1832)
** W. J. Fitzpatrick, ''The [[Sham Squire]], The Rebellion of Ireland and the Informers of 1798'' (Dublin, 1866) and ''Secret Service under Pitt'' (London, 1892)
** [[J. A. Froude]], ''The English in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century'' (3 vols., London, 1872–74)
** W. E. H. Lecky, ''History of England in the Eighteenth Century'', vols. vii. and viii. (London, 1896)
** Thomas Reynolds the younger, ''The Life of Thomas Reynolds'' (London, 1839)
** ''The Life and Letters of Lady Sarah Lennox'', edited by the countess of llchester and Lord Stavordale (London, 1901)
** [[Ida A. Taylor]], ''The Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald'' (London, 1903), which gives a prejudiced and distorted picture of Pamela.
*For particulars of Pamela, and especially as to the question of her parentage, see:
** Gerald Campbell, ''Edward and Pamela Fitzgerald'' (London, 1904)
** Memoirs of Madame de Genlis (London, 1825)
** Georgette Ducrest, ''Chroniques populaires'' (Paris, 1855)
** Thomas Moore, ''Memoirs of the Life of R. B. Sheridan'' (London, 1825. R. J. M.)

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|ie}}
{{succession box
 | title=[[Member of Parliament]] for [[Athy (Parliament of Ireland constituency)|Athy]]
 | with = Thomas Burgh
 | before=[[Thomas Burgh (1754–1832)|Thomas Burgh]]<br />[[Thomas Burgh (1744–1810)|Thomas Burgh]]
 | after=[[Lord Henry FitzGerald]]<br />[[Arthur Ormsby]]
 | years=1783–1790
}}
{{s-bef| before = [[Charles FitzGerald, 1st Baron Lecale|Lord Charles FitzGerald]] |before2= [[John Wolfe (British politician)|John Wolfe]] }}
{{s-ttl| title  = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[County Kildare (Parliament of Ireland constituency)|County Kildare]] 
 | with = [[Maurice Bagenal St Leger Keating]] 
       | years  = 1790–1798 }}
{{s-aft| after  = [[John La Touche (1732–1810)|John La Touche]] |after2= [[Maurice Bagenal St Leger Keating]] }}
{{s-end}}

{{Irish Rebellion of 1798|state=expanded}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Edward, Lord}}
[[Category:1763 births]]
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[[Category:FitzGerald dynasty|Edward]]
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[[Category:Military personnel from County Kildare]]
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[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]].