most famous speech in proposing a certain measure of catholic relief. In that year he married Catherine, younger daughter of the Rev. Henry Vesey, who was grandson of John Vesey, archbishop of Tuam, and cousin of Lord Glentworth, ancestor of the Viscounts de Vesci. Fitzgerald never sought political office, but he eagerly accepted professional appointments, which helped him at the bar. He thus became in rapid succession third Serjeant in 1779, second Serjeant in 1784, and prime Serjeant in 1787. In all the debates which preceded the final abolition of the independent Irish parliament Fitzgerald distinguished himself. He opposed the project of the union with all his might, and he was certainly disinterested in his cause, for in 1799 he was dismissed from his post of prime serjeant to make way for St. George Daly, who had been converted to the unionist policy. The Irish bar insisted on showing their respect for him, and continued to give him the precedence in court over the attorney-general and solicitor-general which he had held as prime serjeant. When the union was carried Fitzgerald accepted it, and he sat in the imperial parliament for Ennis from 1802 to February 1808, when he resigned the seat to his son, William Vesey Fitzgerald. He, however, was re-elected in 1812, but again resigned in January 1813, when he finally retired from politics. His name, like his son's [see Fitzgerald, William Vesey, 1783-1843], was unfortunately mixed up in the Mary Anne Clarke scandal with the Duke of York. This son, who was thoroughly reconciled to the union, held many important political offices, and in recognition of his services his mother was created Baroness Fitzgerald and Vesey on 31 July 1826, when James Fitzgerald himself refused a peerage. James Fitzgerald died at Booterstown, near Dublin, on 20 Jan. 1835, aged 93 ; the baroness had predeceased him 3 Jan. 1832. His youngest son, Henry Vesey Fitzgerald, was dean of Emly (1818-26), and dean of Kilmore from 1826 till his death, on 30 March 1860. He succeeded his eldest brother as third Lord Fitzgerald and Vesey in 1843.
[Gent. Mag. March 1835; Blue Book of the Members of the House of Commons ; Blacker's Booterstown, pp. 241-3 ; Sir John Barrington's Memoirs of the Union ; Grattan's Life of Henry Grattan; Hardy's Life of the Earl of Charlemont.]
FITZGERALD, JOHN, first Earl of Kildare. [See Fitzthomas, John, d. 1316.]
FITZGERALD, JOHN Fitzedmund (d. 1589), seneschal of Imokilly, was the son
of Edmund Fitzmaurice Riskard, seneschal of
Imokilly and Shylie, daughter of Maolrony
O'Carroll. He was a prominent actor in the
two great rebellions that convulsed Munster
during 1563 to 1583. In 1569, being 'a principal communicator with James Fitzmaurice,'
'arch traitor' [q. v.], he was besieged in his
castle of Ballymartyr by Sir Henry Sidney ;
but after a stout defence, in which several of
the besiegers were wounded, finding the place
untenable, he 'and his company in the dead
of night fled out of the house by a bog, which
joins hard to the wall where no watch could
have prevented their escape.' He continued
to hold out with Fitzmaurice in the woods
of Aharlow till February 1573, when he
humbly submitted himself before Sir John
Perrot in the church of Kilmallock, and was
pardoned. In 1575 he accompanied Fitzmaurice to France, but returned to Ireland
a few weeks afterwards. From that time till
the date of Fitzmaurice's landing we hear
nothing of him with the exception that on
16 Nov. 1576 he complained to the president
of Munster, Sir William Drury, that the Earl
of Desmond was coshering sixty horses and
a hundred horse-boys on Imokilly, an incident quite sufficient to show how the wind
was blowing meanwhile. Instantly on the
arrival of Fitzmaurice in July 1579 he went
into rebellion. An adept in all the stratagems of Irish warfare, and personally brave
in carrying his schemes into execution, he
became, after the death of the 'arch traitor,'
the unquestionable, though not nominal,
head of the rebellion. It was against him,
and not the Earl of Desmond, that Ormonde mainly directed his efforts. More than
once during that terrible struggle he was reported to have been slain. He was, indeed,
once severely wounded and his brother killed,
but he manifested no intention of submitting.
In February 1581 he narrowly missed capturing Sir Walter Raleigh. In May 1583 his aged
mother was taken and executed by Thomas
Butler, tenth earl of Ormonde [q. v.] But it
was not till 14 June, when he was reported
to have not more than twenty-four swords and
four horse, that he consented to recognise the
hopelessness of his cause. His submission
was accepted conditionally; but Ormonde,
who greatly respected him for his bravery,
pleaded earnestly with Burghley for his pardon. He was, he declared, a man 'valiant,
wise, and true of his word.' Ever since his
submission 'he and his people had been employed in order and husbandry.' Ormonde's
intervention was successful so far as his life
was concerned ; but as for his lands, that was
to be left an open question. Thirty-six thousand acres of good land, which the undertakers had come to regard as their property,
