Gerald FitzGerald, 5th Duke of Leinster

Gerald FitzGerald, 5th Duke of Leinster (16 August 1851 – 1 December 1893) was an Anglo-Irish peer.

Biography

Leinster was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of the 4th Duke of Leinster and Lady Caroline Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Sutherland.

He married Lady Hermione Wilhelmina Duncombe (30 March 1864 – Mentone, France, 19 March 1895), daughter of the 1st Earl of Feversham, in London on 17 January 1884. It was not a happy marriage.^[1] She died of tuberculosis at age 30.^[2]^: 64–65

The Leinsters had the following children:

Unnamed daughter (born 1885 – died 5 February 1886)
Maurice FitzGerald, 6th Duke of Leinster (1 March 1887 – 4 February 1922)
Major Lord Desmond FitzGerald (21 September 1888 – 3 March 1916), killed in the World War I - buried in France with the gravestone inscription: "FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH".^[a]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]
Edward FitzGerald, 7th Duke of Leinster (6 May 1892 – 8 March 1976), whose alleged biological father was Hugo Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss.^[2]^: 64

After the 5th Duke's death of typhoid fever, his stamp collection, which contained around ten thousand pieces, was bequeathed to the Dublin Museum of Science and Art. It included an Inverted Swan which he had discovered was inverted years after he took possession of it.^[11]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Gerald FitzGerald, 5th Duke of Leinster

16. James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster

8. William FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster

17. Lady Emily Lennox

4. Augustus FitzGerald, 3rd Duke of Leinster

18. St George St George, 1st Baron St George

9. The Hon. Emilia St George

19. Elizabeth Dominick

2. Charles FitzGerald, 4th Duke of Leinster

20. William Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Harrington

10. Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington

21. Lady Caroline FitzRoy

5. Lady Charlotte Stanhope

22. Sir John Fleming, 1st Baronet

11. Jane Fleming

23. Jane Coleman

1. Gerald FitzGerald, 5th Duke of Leinster

24. Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford

12. George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland

25. Lady Louisa Egerton

6. George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland

26. William Gordon, 18th Earl of Sutherland

13. Elizabeth Gordon, 19th Countess of Sutherland

27. Mary Maxwell

3. Lady Caroline Sutherland-Leveson-Gower

28. Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle

14. George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle

29. Lady Margaret Leveson-Gower

7. Lady Harriet Howard

30. William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire

15. Lady Georgiana Cavendish

31. Lady Georgiana Spencer

Notes

^ According to Rudyard Kipling,^[3] FitzGerald "was so severely wounded that he died within an hour at the Millicent Sutherland (No. 9. Red Cross Hospital). Lieutenant T. E. G. Nugent was dangerously wounded at the same time through the liver, though he did not realise this at the time, and stayed coolly in charge of a party till help came. Lieutenant Hanbury, who was conducting the practice, was wounded in the hand and leg, and Father Lane-Fox lost an eye and some fingers. Lord Desmond FitzGerald was buried in the public cemetery at Calais on the 5th. As he himself had expressly desired, there was no formal parade, but the whole Battalion, of which he was next for the command, lined the road to his grave. His passion and his loyalty had been given to the Battalion without thought of self, and among many sad things, few are sadder than to see the record of his unceasing activities and care since he had been second in command cut across by the curt announcement of his death. It was a little thing that his name had been at the time submitted for a well-deserved D.S.O."

Sources and references

^ "The FitzGeralds of Carton House – a deeply dysfunctional family: The Decline and Fall of the Dukes of Leinster". Irish Times. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
^ ^a ^b Angela Lambert (1984). Unquiet Souls. Harper & Row.
^ "The Salient to the Somme". telelib.com.
^ According to cemetery records, Lord Desmond FitzGerald is buried in Calais Southern Cemetery, Plot A, Row Officers, Grave 5
^ "FitzGerald, Lord Desmond". The War Graves Photographic Project.
^ "Bomb Kills Duke's Heir: Lord Desmond Fitzgerald Was Experimenting with New Missile", The New York Times, 8 March 1916. The article states that FitzGerald "was experimenting with a new kind of bomb, when it exploded and a fragment struck him in the head. He was taken to a hospital and died an hour later"
^ Peterkin, Tom; Elsworth, Catherine (28 February 2006). "A Californian claimant, an 'escape' from the trenches and the fight for a dukedom". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 27 June 2006. Retrieved 12 June 2008.
^ Charles Lysaght (19 February 2006). "The best DNA evidence may be hidden in Australian outback". Irish Independent.
^ According to the Scottish War Memorials Project, Col. Lord Desmond's death occurred thus: "Fr Lane Fox OSB was chaplain to the Irish Guards. He lost his right eye and hand in a bombing accident. He was standing by Colonel Lord Desmond Fitzgerald watching a bombing practice. The Colonel said "Now Padre, you can have a try". Fr Lane Fox took a bomb, pulled out the pin and then before the proper time the bomb exploded in his hand, destroying his right eye and hand and killing Lord Desmond Fitzgerald. He also served with the 2nd London Irish of 47th Division and was awarded the Military Cross and the French Medaille Militaire". See http://warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/warmemscot-post-42305.html
^ "Casualty Details: FitzGerald, Lord Desmond". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
^ Arthur Ronald Butler, The British Philatelic Federation Limited, 1990, page 18.

External links

"DNA test the latest twist in aristocratic tale of a cowboy, a gambler and a web of deceit", Scotsman, 4 November 2010

Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Charles FitzGerald	Duke of Leinster 1887–1893	Succeeded by Maurice FitzGerald

[4] According to Rudyard Kipling,^[3] FitzGerald "was so severely wounded that he died within an hour at the Millicent Sutherland (No. 9. Red Cross Hospital). Lieutenant T. E. G. Nugent was dangerously wounded at the same time through the liver, though he did not realise this at the time, and stayed coolly in charge of a party till help came. Lieutenant Hanbury, who was conducting the practice, was wounded in the hand and leg, and Father Lane-Fox lost an eye and some fingers. Lord Desmond FitzGerald was buried in the public cemetery at Calais on the 5th. As he himself had expressly desired, there was no formal parade, but the whole Battalion, of which he was next for the command, lined the road to his grave. His passion and his loyalty had been given to the Battalion without thought of self, and among many sad things, few are sadder than to see the record of his unceasing activities and care since he had been second in command cut across by the curt announcement of his death. It was a little thing that his name had been at the time submitted for a well-deserved D.S.O."

[1] "The FitzGeralds of Carton House – a deeply dysfunctional family: The Decline and Fall of the Dukes of Leinster". Irish Times. Retrieved 11 December 2022.

[Lambert-2] Angela Lambert (1984). Unquiet Souls. Harper & Row.

[3] "The Salient to the Somme". telelib.com.

[5] According to cemetery records, Lord Desmond FitzGerald is buried in Calais Southern Cemetery, Plot A, Row Officers, Grave 5

[6] "FitzGerald, Lord Desmond". The War Graves Photographic Project.

[7] "Bomb Kills Duke's Heir: Lord Desmond Fitzgerald Was Experimenting with New Missile", The New York Times, 8 March 1916. The article states that FitzGerald "was experimenting with a new kind of bomb, when it exploded and a fragment struck him in the head. He was taken to a hospital and died an hour later"

[8] Peterkin, Tom; Elsworth, Catherine (28 February 2006). "A Californian claimant, an 'escape' from the trenches and the fight for a dukedom". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 27 June 2006. Retrieved 12 June 2008.

[9] Charles Lysaght (19 February 2006). "The best DNA evidence may be hidden in Australian outback". Irish Independent.

[10] According to the Scottish War Memorials Project, Col. Lord Desmond's death occurred thus: "Fr Lane Fox OSB was chaplain to the Irish Guards. He lost his right eye and hand in a bombing accident. He was standing by Colonel Lord Desmond Fitzgerald watching a bombing practice. The Colonel said "Now Padre, you can have a try". Fr Lane Fox took a bomb, pulled out the pin and then before the proper time the bomb exploded in his hand, destroying his right eye and hand and killing Lord Desmond Fitzgerald. He also served with the 2nd London Irish of 47th Division and was awarded the Military Cross and the French Medaille Militaire". See http://warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/warmemscot-post-42305.html

[11] "Casualty Details: FitzGerald, Lord Desmond". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 12 November 2024.

[Butler,_RDP,_p19-12] Arthur Ronald Butler, The British Philatelic Federation Limited, 1990, page 18.

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