Edward Fitzgerald (1892 - 1976)

Born 6 May 1892 in County Kildare, Ireland

Ancestors

Husband of May Juanita (Etheridge) FitzGerald — married 12 Jun 1913 (to 1930) in Wandsworth, London, England, United Kingdom

Husband of Agnes Raffaelle (Kennedy) FitzGerald — married 1 Dec 1932 (to 1946) in St. Martin, London, England

Husband of Jessie (Smither) FitzGerald — married 11 Mar 1946 in Marylebone, London, England

Husband of Vivienne Irene (Felton) FitzGerald — married 12 May 1965 in Brighton, Sussex, England, United Kingdom [uncertain]

Died 8 Mar 1976 at age 83 in Pimlico, London, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald was a member of the aristocracy in British Isles.

Edward FitzGerald was the son of Gerald FitzGerald, 5th Duke of Leinster, and Lady Hermione Wilhelmina Duncombe.^[1] He was born on the 6th of May 1892.^[2] He was married four times, firstly to May Etheridge, daughter of Jesse Etheridge, on the 12th of June 1913^[2] at Wandsworth, London, England.^[3] They were divorced in 1930 at Scotland.^[2] Edward was a "notorious spendthrift and wastrel who was barely 21 before being declared bankrupt for the first of several occasions. In 1917, he sold his birthright for 67,000 pounds worth of debts and an annuity of 1,000. Five years later he became the 7th Duke of Leinster."^[4]

He married, secondly, Agnes Raffaelle Kennedy, daughter of Robert Davidson Kennedy, on the 1st of December 1932^[2] at St. Martin, London, England.^[5] They were divorced in 1946.^[2] He married, thirdly, Jessie Smither, daughter of Jessie Henrietta Pococke and Alfred John Smither, on the 11th of March 1946^[2] at Marylebone, London, England.^[6] He married, fourthly, Vivienne Irene Felton, daughter of Thomas Albert Felton, on the 12th of May 1965^[2] at Brighton, Sussex, England.^[7] He died on the 8th of March 1976 at the age of 83, by suicide, from an overdose.^[2] at Pimlico, London, England.^[8][9]

Titles

• 7th Duke of Leinster [I., 1766] on 4 February 1922.^[2]
• 7th Marquess of Kildare [I., 1761] on 4 February 1922.^[2]
• 12th Baron Offaly [I., 1599] on 4 February 1922.^[2]
• 26th Earl of Kildare [I., 1316] on 4 February 1922.^[2]
• 4th Baron Kildare of Kildare, co. Kildare [U.K., 1870] on 4 February 1922.^[2]
• 7th Viscount Leinster of Taplow, co. Buckingham [G.B., 1747] on 4 February 1922.^[2]
• 7th Earl of Offaly [I., 1761] on 4 February 1922.^[2]

Research Notes

It has been alleged that Maurice Fitzgerald of California was one of four sons of the 5th Duke of Leinster, that he ran away from the family seat in Ireland to North America before the First World War, and that the Leinster family then froze out the runaway by orchestrating a bizarre change of identities. As reported in The Scotsman,^[10] the Californian man's daughter, Mrs FitzGerald Caudill, believed that

her father was christened Desmond. But when he disappeared to America, his identity as Desmond was assumed by his elder brother Maurice, who was killed in the First World War.
Meanwhile, Maurice's identity was assumed by Lady Hermione's sickly eldest son Gerald Otho, whose existence had been denied by the family and who was hidden away in the Craighouse Asylum in Edinburgh. The sickly child - now renamed Maurice - became the sixth duke, but died young in 1922.
With Mrs FitzGerald Caudill's father estranged in North America and the other son dead in the trenches, the gambler Edward succeeded to the title.

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_FitzGerald,_7th_Duke_of_Leinster
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14} Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. volume 2, page 2300.
3. ↑ "England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:26ZD-TBY : 22 May 2014), Edward Fitzgerald and null, 1913; from “England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005,” database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1913, quarter 2, vol. 1D, p. 1096, Wandsworth, London, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
4. ↑ Terence A.M. Dooley, "The Decline and Fall of the Dukes of Leinster (1872-1948), Love, War, Debt & Madness. Four Courts Press, retrieved by Helen Etheridge from www.goodreads.com.
5. ↑ "England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV8W-CFQN : 8 October 2014), Edward Fitzgerald and null, 1932; from “England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005,” database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1932, quarter 4, vol. 1A, p. 1116, St. Martin, London, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
6. ↑ "England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVDM-BNT2 : 8 October 2014), Edward Fitzgerald and null, 1946; from “England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005,” database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1946, quarter 1, vol. 1A, p. 1250, Marylebone, London, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
7. ↑ "England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV6M-Y6ZM : 8 October 2014), Edward Fitzgerald and null, 1965; from “England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005,” database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1965, quarter 2, vol. 5H, p. 176, Brighton, Sussex, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
8. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_FitzGerald,_7th_Duke_of_Leinster
9. ↑ "England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVC5-XB2P : 4 September 2014), Edward Fitzgerald, 1976; from "England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Death, Westminster, London, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
10. ↑ “DNA test the latest twist in aristocratic tale of a cowboy, a gambler and a web of deceit”, The Scotsman, 4 November 2010 (archived 6 June 2021).