Author: Fitzgerald, G.
Biography:
FITZGERALD, G. (fl 1821)
His one book, Selim, was published in London but printed at Clonmel in Ireland. A letter from there dated 13 Apr. 1823 and signed "G. Fitzgerald" provides the best available evidence about his identity. The author was almost certainly Gerald Fitzgerald, Esq., of Clonmel, who by 1822 was a local magistrate, elevated in 1828 to county magistrate for Tipperary and in 1829 also for Co. Waterford. He had been married in St. Mary's Catholic church, Clonmel, on 8 May 1817 to Maria Fitzgerald, and they had at least one son. The younger recipient of the letter ("Dear Sam") was the American Quaker doctor Samuel George Morton (1799-1851), who was writing a thesis at Edinburgh University and had recently visited Clonmel, where he had two uncles. Irish newspapers continue through to 1838 (and perhaps later) to mention Fitzgerald's cases but no death notice has been discovered. (findmypast.com 9 Sept. 2021; O'Donoghue; G. Fitzgerald to Samuel George Morton, ALS 13 Apr. 1823, American Philosophical Society Library, Philadelphia; Saunders's News-Letter [Dublin] 9 Oct. 1822; Waterford Mail 27 Aug. 1828; Limerick Evening Post 28 Aug. 1829) HJ