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{{Short description|Irish officer of the British Army}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = [[Field Marshal (British Army)|Field Marshal]]
| name = Sir John FitzGerald
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB}}
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{circa}} 1785
| death_date = 24 March 1877 (aged 92 or 93)
| burial_label =
| burial_place = [[Tours]], France
| birth_place = [[County Clare]], Ireland
| death_place = [[Tours]], France
| nickname =
| allegiance = [[United Kingdom]]
| branch = [[British Army]]
| service_years = 1793–1841
| rank = [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|Field Marshal]]
| unit =
| commands = [[Lancashire Fusiliers|20th Regiment of Foot]] Divisional command in the [[Madras Army]] Divisional command in the [[Bombay Army]]
| battles = {{Tree list}}
*[[French Revolutionary Wars]]
*[[Napoleonic Wars]]
**[[Peninsular War]]
***[[Siege of Badajoz (1812)|Siege of Badajoz]]{{WIA}}
***[[Battle of Salamanca]]
***[[Battle of Vitoria]]
***[[Battle of the Pyrenees]]{{POW}}
{{tree list/end}}
| awards = [[Army Gold Cross]]
| relations =
| other_work =
}}
[[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|Field Marshal]] '''Sir John Forster FitzGerald''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB}} ({{circa}} 1785 – 24 March 1877) was a soldier from [[Ireland]] who served as an officer in the [[British Army]]. He fought in the [[Peninsular War]], seeing action at the [[Siege of Badajoz (1812)|Battle of Badajoz]], the [[Battle of Salamanca]] and the [[Battle of Vitoria]] and commanding a brigade during the [[Battle of the Pyrenees]] before being captured by the [[French Army]]. He became Commandant of [[Quebec]] and then went on to be Commandant of [[Montreal]], Quebec. He was given command of the [[Lancashire Fusiliers|20th Regiment of Foot]] in [[Mumbai|Bombay]] before being given a divisional command in the [[Madras Army]] but shortly afterwards transferring to Bombay where he was given a divisional command of the [[Bombay Army]]. He later became a [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]].

==Career==
Born the son of Edward FitzGerald and his second wife, a daughter of Major Thomas Burton, FitzGerald was [[Officer (armed forces)|commissioned]] as an [[ensign (rank)|ensign]] in Captain Shee's independent company of foot, then based in [[Ireland]], on 29 October 1793.<ref name=odnb>{{cite ODNB |id=9572 |title=Fitzgerald, Sir John Forster (1784/5–1877) |first=H. M. |last=Chichester |first2=James |last2=Lunt}}</ref> Promoted to [[lieutenant]] in January 1794, he transferred to the [[46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot|46th Regiment of Foot]] with the rank of [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] on 31 October 1800.<ref name=heath121>Heathcote, p. 121</ref> He subsequently transferred to the newly formed New Brunswick Fencibles on 9 July 1803<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=15600|page=835|date=9 July 1803}}</ref> and was promoted to brevet [[Major (rank)|major]] on 25 September 1803.<ref name=heath121/> After exchanging into the [[King's Royal Rifle Corps|60th Royal Americans]] with the substantive rank of major in 1809, he was promoted to [[lieutenant colonel]] on 25 July 1810.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=16390|page=1095|date=24 July 1810}}</ref>

FitzGerald fought in the [[Peninsular War]], seeing action at the [[Siege of Badajoz (1812)|Battle of Badajoz]] in March 1812, the [[Battle of Salamanca]] in July 1812 and the [[Battle of Vitoria]] in June 1813.<ref name=heath121/> He commanded a brigade during the [[Battle of the Pyrenees]] in July 1813 and was captured by the [[French Army]] but was released at the end of the War.<ref name=heath121/> He was appointed a [[Order of the Bath|Companion of the Order of the Bath]] on 2 January 1815.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=17061|page=1878|date=16 September 1815}}</ref>
[[File:Tours Cathedral Saint-Gatian.jpg|thumb|[[Tours Cathedral]] which, on FitzGerald's death, was the scene of a funeral with the full military honours normally prescribed for a [[marshal of France]]]]
After remaining with his regiment in [[Ireland]] for two years, FitzGerald was sent to [[Gibraltar]] in 1816 and to [[Canada]] in 1818.<ref name=heath121/> He became Commandant of [[Quebec]] in 1818 and, having been promoted to brevet [[colonel]] on 12 August 1819,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=17505|page=1443|date=12 August 1819}}</ref> he went on to be Commandant of [[Montreal]], Quebec.<ref name=odnb/> He was given command of the [[Lancashire Fusiliers|20th Regiment of Foot]] in [[Mumbai|Bombay]] on 5 February 1824 before being promoted to [[major-general]] on 22 July 1830<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=18709|page=1535|date=23 July 1830}}</ref> and being advanced to [[Order of the Bath|Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] on 13 September 1831.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=18850|page=1893|date=13 September 1831}}</ref> He was given a divisional command in the [[Madras Army]] in 1838 and but shortly afterwards transferred to Bombay where he was given a divisional command of the [[Bombay Army]].<ref name=heath122>Heathcote, p. 122</ref> Returning to the United Kingdom in early 1841, he was promoted to [[lieutenant-general]] on 23 November 1841<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=20044|page=3008|date=24 November 1841}}</ref> and to full [[general]] on 20 June 1854.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=21564|page=1931|date=22 June 1854}}</ref>

FitzGerald was also colonel of the [[85th Regiment of Foot (Bucks Volunteers)]],<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=19845|page=947|date=10 April 1840}}</ref> of the [[62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=20287|page=4000|date=24 November 1843}}</ref> and then of the [[Royal Irish Regiment (1684–1922)|Royal Irish Regiment]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=21077|page=791|date=15 March 1850}}</ref> He represented [[Clare (UK Parliament constituency)|County Clare]] in Parliament on behalf of the [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig Party]] from 1852 to 1857.<ref name=odnb/> He was advanced to [[Order of the Bath|Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]] on 19 November 1862<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22679|page=5343|date=10 November 1862}}</ref> and promoted to [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|field marshal]] on 29 May 1875.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24213|page=2851|date=29 May 1875}}</ref> Having retired to France, FitzGerald decided, at an advanced age, to become a convert to the [[Catholic Church]].<ref name=heath122/> He died at [[Tours]] in France on 24 March 1877; on the orders of [[Jean Auguste Berthaut]], the French [[Minister of Defence (France)|Minister of War]], the garrison of Tours gave FitzGerald a funeral with the full military honours normally prescribed for a [[marshal of France]].<ref name=heath122/> He was buried in St Symphorien cemetery in Tours.<ref name=odnb/>

==Family==
In 1805 FitzGerald married Charlotte Hazen; their children included:
* Charlotte FitzGerald (1805–1853) who married Baron von Ende<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Morgan |editor-first=Henry James |editor-link=Henry James Morgan |title=Types of Canadian Women and of Women who are or have been Connected with Canada |location=Toronto |publisher=Williams Briggs |date=1903 |url=https://archive.org/details/typesofcanadianw01morguoft |page=[https://archive.org/details/typesofcanadianw01morguoft/page/344 344]}}</ref>
* Anne FitzGerald (c.1808-1882) who married [[Arbuthnot baronets|Sir Robert Keith Arbuthnot, 2nd Baronet]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Waterston|first1=Charles D.|last2=Macmillan Shearer|first2=A.|title=Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783-2002: Biographical Index|url=http://www.rse.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|accessdate=25 November 2011|volume=I|date=July 2006|publisher=[[The Royal Society of Edinburgh]]|location=Edinburgh|isbn=978-0-902198-84-5|page=34}}</ref>
* Captain John Forster FitzGerald (1820–1848)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clareroots.org/index.php/2011-06-29-19-06-17/2011-06-29-19-14-37/graveyards|title=Coney Island graveyard|publisher=Clare Roots Society|accessdate=8 December 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211130309/http://www.clareroots.org/index.php/2011-06-29-19-06-17/2011-06-29-19-14-37/graveyards|archivedate=11 December 2013}}</ref>

Following the death of his first wife, FitzGerald married Jean Ogilvy in 1839; they had children, including William Walter Augustine Fitzgerald<ref name=TIWW>{{cite TIWW |article=Fitzgerald, William Walter Augustine |page=82 }}</ref> but no further details are recorded.<ref name=odnb/><ref name=heath122/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|last=Heathcote|first=Tony|title=The British Field Marshals, 1736–1997: A Biographical Dictionary |publisher= Leo Cooper|location=Barnsley|year= 1999|isbn= 0-85052-696-5}}

== External links ==
* {{Hansard-contribs | sir-john-fitzgerald | John Forster FitzGerald }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{succession box
|title=Colonel of the [[85th Regiment of Foot|85th, or The King's Regiment of Light Infantry (Bucks Volunteers)]]
|years= 4 April 1840
|before=[[William Thornton (British Army officer)|Sir William Thornton]]
|after=[[Thomas Pearson (British Army officer, born 1782)|Sir Thomas Pearson]]
}}
{{succession box
|title=Colonel of the [[62nd Regiment of Foot|62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot]]
|years=21 Nov 1843
|before=[[Sir Archibald Campbell, 1st Baronet|Sir Archibald Campbell]]
|after=[[James Fergusson (British Army officer)|Sir James Fergusson]]
}}
{{succession box
|title=Colonel of the [[Royal Irish Regiment (1684-1922)|Royal Irish Regiment]]
|years=9 March 1850
|before=[[Matthew Whitworth-Aylmer, 5th Baron Aylmer|Lord Aylmer]]
|after=[[Clement Alexander Edwards|Clement Edwards]]
}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
| title =[[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[County Clare (UK Parliament constituency)|County Clare]]
| with = [[Cornelius O'Brien (County Clare)|Cornelius O'Brien]]
| years = [[1852 United Kingdom general election|1852]]–[[1857 United Kingdom general election|1857]]
| before = [[William Nugent Macnamara]] and [[Lucius O'Brien, 13th Baron Inchiquin|Sir Lucius O'Brien]]
| after = [[Lord Francis Nathaniel Conyngham]] and [[Francis Macnamara Calcutt]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, John Forster}}
[[Category:1780s births]]
[[Category:1877 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel from County Clare]]
[[Category:19th-century Irish people]]
[[Category:Irish soldiers]]
[[Category:Irish expatriates in Spain]]
[[Category:Irish expatriates in France]]
[[Category:Irish expatriates in Canada]]
[[Category:Irish expatriates in England]]
[[Category:British field marshals]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Clare constituencies (1801–1922)]]
[[Category:Whig (British political party) MPs for Irish constituencies]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1852–1857]]
[[Category:Lancashire Fusiliers officers]]
[[Category:Royal American Regiment officers]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the Peninsular War]]
[[Category:Irish expatriates in British India]]
[[Category:British military personnel in colonial India]]
[[Category:Commanders-in-chief of Bombay]]

John Forster FitzGerald - Revision history

Greyscaledesign at 00:09, 8 May 2026