Author: Fitzgerald, William Thomas
Biography:
FITZGERALD, William Thomas (1759-1829: ODNB)
He was born in England to John Austen Fitzgerald, a colonel in the Dutch service, and his wife Henrietta Martin of Antigua. He was educated at an academy in Greenwich, London, and the Collège de Navarre at the University of Paris. Although he entered the Inner Temple on his return to London, in 1782 he accepted a post as clerk at the navy pay office where he remained for twenty-five years until his retirement. On 19 Dec. 1826 he married Maria Howorth; they had three sons and two daughters. He was a loyal supporter of the RLF and served as vice-president. His enthusiastic and patriotic verse attracted some ridicule—for example from James and Horace Smith in “The Loyal Effusion” and from Lord Byron (qq.v.) in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers—which he accepted with good-humour. He died at home in Dudley Grove, Paddington, on 9 July 1829. (ODNB 19 Sept. 2021; ancestry.co.uk 19 Sept. 2021)
Other Names:
- W. T. Fitzgerald
- William Thomas Fitz-Gerald