Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, PC (Ire) (29 May 1722 – 19 November 1773), styled Lord Offaly until 1743 and known as The Earl of Kildare between 1743 and 1761 and as The Marquess of Kildare between 1761 and 1766, was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

nobleman, soldier and politician.

Background

Leinster was the son of

Robert FitzGerald, 19th Earl of Kildare Robert FitzGerald, 19th Earl of Kildare PC (Ire) (4 May 1675 – 20 February 1743), known as Robert FitzGerald until 1707, was an Irish peer. Background Kildare was the son of the Hon. Robert FitzGerald, younger son of George FitzGerald, 16th Ea ...

, and Lady Mary, daughter of William O'Brien, 3rd Earl of Inchiquin.

Career

Leinster was a member of the Irish House of Commons for

Athy Athy ( ; ) is a market town at the meeting of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal in south-west County Kildare, Ireland, 72 kilometres southwest of Dublin. A population of 9,677 (as of the 2016 census) makes it the sixth largest town in Kild ...

from 1741 before succeeding his father as 20th Earl of Kildare in 1743. He was sworn of the

Irish Privy Council His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

in 1746 and in 1747, on the occasion of his marriage (see below), he was created Viscount Leinster, of Taplow in the County of Buckingham, in the

Peerage of Great Britain The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Acts of Union 1800. It replaced the Peerage of England and the Peerage of Scotland, but was itself r ...

, and took his seat in the British

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

that same year. From 1749 to 1755 he was one of the leaders of the Popular Party in Ireland, and served as the country's

Master-General of the Ordnance The Master-General of the Ordnance (MGO) was a very senior British military position from 1415 to 2013 (except 1855–1895 and 1939–1958) with some changes to the name, usually held by a serving general. The Master-General of the Ordnance was ...

between 1758 and 1766, becoming Colonel of the Royal Irish Artillery in 1760. He was promoted to Major-General in 1761 and to

in 1770. In 1761 Lord Kildare was created Earl of Offaly and Marquess of Kildare in the Peerage of Ireland and in 1766 he was further honoured when he was made Duke of Leinster, becoming by this time the Premier Duke, Marquess and Earl in the Peerage of Ireland.

Family

Leinster married the 15-year-old Lady Emily Lennox (6 October 1731 –

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, 27 March 1814), daughter of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond and one of the famous

Lennox Sisters The Lennox sisters were four eighteenth-century British aristocrats, the daughters of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond (1701–1750) by his wife Lady Sarah Cadogan (1705–1751). The four sisters were: * Caroline Fox, 1st Baroness Holland (172 ...

, in London on 7 February 1747. She was a great-granddaughter of King Charles II and was therefore a distant fifth cousin of

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

(both of them were descended from King

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

). The couple had nineteen children: *George FitzGerald, Earl of Offaly (15 January 1748 – Richmond House, 26 September 1765). * William FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster (Arlington Place, Piccadilly,

, 12 March 1749 – Carton House, Kildare, 20 October 1804). *Lady Caroline FitzGerald (1750 – 1754). *Lady Emily Mary FitzGerald (15 March 1751 – 8 April 1818), married Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont and Baron Coote of Coolony. The couple had five children, one son who died young (born 1776) and four daughters. Emily died in Penzance, Cornwall in 1818 after a lingering illness. *Lady Henrietta FitzGerald (1753 – 1763). *Lady Caroline FitzGerald (born and died 1755). *

Charles FitzGerald, 1st Baron Lecale Vice-Admiral Charles James FitzGerald, 1st Baron Lecale PC (Ire) (30 June 1756 – 18 February 1810), styled Lord Charles FitzGerald between 1761 and 1800, was an Irish naval commander and politician. Background FitzGerald was the third son of J ...

(30 June 1756 – 30 June 1810). * Lady Charlotte Mary Gertrude FitzGerald (29 May 1758 – 13 September 1836), married Joseph Strutt and was made first Baroness Rayleigh. Had issue. *Lady Louisa Bridget FitzGerald (1760 – 1765). * Lord Henry FitzGerald (30 July 1761 – 8 July 1829), general; married Charlotte Boyle and had issue, who take by inheritance the surname "de Ros". *Lady Sophia Sarah Mary FitzGerald (1762 – 21 March 1845). * Lord Edward FitzGerald (15 October 1763 – 4 June 1798), revolutionary and prominent leader of the

United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...

during the

1798 rising The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced ...

. *Lord Robert Stephen FitzGerald (1765 – 2 January 1833), a diplomat; married Sophia Charlotte Fielding and had issue. *Lord Gerald FitzGerald (January 1766 – 1788). Drowned, went down with the ship in which he was serving. *Lord Augustus FitzGerald (1767 – 1771). *Lady Fanny FitzGerald (1770 – 1775). *Lady

Lucy Anne FitzGerald Lady Lucy Anne FitzGerald (5 February 1771 – 20 January 1851) was an Anglo-Irish political radical: a supporter, with her mother Lady Emily, of her cousin, the English Whig reformer Charles James Fox and, with her brother Lord Edward, of th ...

(1771 – 1851), who took part in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. She was married to Admiral Sir Thomas Foley, who served with distinction under Lord Nelson. They had no children. *Lady Louisa FitzGerald (1772 – 1776). *Lord George Simon FitzGerald (16 April 1773 – 1783). Recognized as a son of Lord Kildare, but was in fact the biological son of his brother's tutor, William Ogilvie. Leinster died at

Leinster House Leinster House ( ga, Teach Laighean) is the seat of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Ireland. Originally, it was the ducal palace of the Dukes of Leinster. Since 1922, it is a complex of buildings, of which the former ducal palace is the core, ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, in November 1773, aged 51, and was buried in the city's Christ Church Cathedral. He was succeeded by his second (but eldest surviving) son, William, Marquess of Kildare. The Duchess of Leinster caused a minor sensation by marrying her lover William Ogilvie in 1774, but continued to be known as The Dowager Duchess of Leinster. She had a further three children by him. She died in

in March 1814, aged 82.

Popular culture

In 1999, Irish Screen, BBC America and

WGBH WGBH may refer to: * WGBH Educational Foundation, based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States ** WGBH (FM), a public radio station at Boston, Massachusetts on 89.7 MHz owned by the WGBH Educational Foundation ** WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), ...

produced ''Aristocrats'', a six-part limited television series based on the lives of Emily Lennox and her sisters. Leinster was portrayed by

Ben Daniels Ben Daniels (born 10 June 1964) is a British actor. Initially a stage actor, Daniels was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Never the Sinner'' (1991), the Evening Standard Award for Best Actor for ''900 Oneonta'' ( ...

Ancestry

References

Pedigree of the 1st Duke of Leinster
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leinster, James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

1722 births 1773 deaths Irish MPs 1727–1760 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kildare constituencies Politicians from County Kildare Politicians from County Dublin Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Dukes of Leinster (1766) Peers of Great Britain created by George II Barons Offaly