Charles L. Fitzgerald (born 1836) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

socialist activist and journalist. Fitzgerald was commissioned in the

West India Regiment The West India Regiments (WIR) were infantry units of the British Army recruited from and normally stationed in the British colonies of the Caribbean between 1795 and 1927. In 1888 the two West India Regiments then in existence were reduced t ...

, and served in India from 1855 until 1857, the period leading up to the

Indian Rebellion The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...

. In the 1880s, Fitzgerald was an early member of the Democratic Federation, serving as its assistant secretary, then after it became the

Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Con ...

(SDF), he was appointed as the first editor of its newspaper, ''

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

''; however, after a few weeks, party leader

H. M. Hyndman Henry Mayers Hyndman (; 7 March 1842 – 20 November 1921) was an English writer, politician and socialist. Originally a conservative, he was converted to socialism by Karl Marx's '' Communist Manifesto'' and launched Britain's first left-wing ...

replaced him. Fitzgerald also served briefly as secretary of the SDF, but after a scandal in which Hyndman secretly accepted money from a

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

agent to stand candidates in the 1885 general election, he resigned from the group.Austen Morgan, ''J. Ramsay MacDonald'', p.15 Fitzgerald worked with James MacDonald to form the Socialist Union, but it made little impact and dissolved two years later. He then disappeared from the socialist movement.

Ernest Belfort Bax Ernest Belfort Bax (; 23 July 1854 – 26 November 1926) was an English barrister, journalist, philosopher, men's rights advocate, socialist, and historian. Biography Ernest Belfort Bax was born on 23 July 1854, in Leamington Spa, son of Danie ...

claimed that he went to the Balkans as a journalist and was murdered by agents of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. However, H. W. Lee claimed that he emigrated to the Western

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the early 1890s and lived there until his death in about 1930.

Norman Kelvin Norman Kelvin (August 27, 1924 – April 14, 2014) was an American scholar of English. He was Distinguished Professor of English at City College of New York and Graduate Center, CUNY. Kelvin was a recipient of a 1974 Guggenheim Fellowship. Biograp ...

, ''The Collected Letters of William Morris, Volume II, Part A: 1881-1884'', p.253

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Charles L. 1836 births Year of death unknown Journalists from Bristol Social Democratic Federation members West India Regiment officers