Charles Fitzgerald ( – 29 December 1887) was an Irish officer in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

and

Governor of The Gambia This is a list of colonial governors and administrators in the Gambia from the establishment of a British settlement on St Mary's Island, now known as Banjul Island, in 1816, through to the Gambia Colony and Protectorate's independence from the U ...

from 1844 until 1847, then

Governor of Western Australia The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutional ...

from 1848 to 1855. Son of

William FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster William Robert FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster, KP, PC (Ire) (12/13 March 1749 – 20 October 1804) was an Irish liberal politician and landowner. He was born in London. Career FitzGerald made his Grand Tour between 1768 and 1769. During th ...

, Fitzgerald joined the Royal Navy in March 1809, passed his examination in 1815, and was commissioned in March 1826. Soon after his arrival in Western Australia in 1848, Fitzgerald accompanied

Augustus Gregory Sir Augustus Charles Gregory (1 August 1819 – 25 June 1905) was an English-born Australian explorer and surveyor. Between 1846 and 1858 he undertook four major expeditions. He was the first Surveyor-General of Queensland. He was appointed a ...

on an expedition in the

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

region where Gregory and his brother had discovered

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

the year before. An encounter with

Aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

resulted in Fitzgerald being speared in the leg and at least three Aborigines shot dead. The town of

Geraldton, Western Australia Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

, was named after him.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Charles 1791 births 1887 deaths Colony of Western Australia people Companions of the Order of the Bath Governors of the Gambia Governors of Western Australia Royal Navy officers