Gerard George Fitzgerald (10 October 1832 – 7 June 1904) was a 19th-century

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

in New Zealand. Like his brother James FitzGerald, he was a journalist of considerable ability, and co-founded ''

The Southland Times ''The Southland Times'' is the regional daily paper for Southland, including Invercargill, and neighbouring parts of Otago, in New Zealand. It is now owned by media business Stuff Ltd, formerly the New Zealand division of Fairfax Media. Histo ...

'' in 1862. For the last 19 years of his life, he was editor of ''

The Timaru Herald ''The Timaru Herald'' is a daily provincial newspaper serving the Timaru, South Canterbury and North Otago districts of New Zealand. The current audited daily circulation is about 14,500 copies, with a readership of about 31,000 people. The pap ...

''.

Early life

Fitzgerald was born in Bath, Somerset, England, on 10 October 1832 and baptised on 6 January 1834 in

Walcot, Bath Walcot is a suburb of the city of Bath, England. It lies to the north-north-east of the city centre, and is an electoral ward of the city.Richard Fitzgerald, was a member of the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...

. His maternal grandfather, Sir John Gibbons, 2nd Baronet, was a member of the British House of Commons. An older half-brother, James FitzGerald (1818–1896), was from his father's second wife. He received his education at the

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

in Bath. He arrived in Lyttelton on the ''Castle Eden'' on 14 February 1851, but left soon after for the

Victorian gold rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony, and an influx of population growth and financial capit ...

. In Victoria, he bought and drove cattle to the gold fields, did some prospecting for gold, and acted as gold buyer for

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

-based banks.

Life in New Zealand

He returned to New Zealand in the early 1860s. On the suggestion of his brother, James FitzGerald, who had himself just established ''

The Press ''The Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand owned by media business Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday to Saturday. One comm ...

'' in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, he established a telegraph news agency for New Zealand. In 1862, he was one of the founders of ''

''. FitzGerald gave up the proprietorship and joined the

Otago Gold Rush The Otago Gold Rush (often called the Central Otago Gold Rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area – ...

, where he met again with George Sale, whom he knew from Victoria. When Sale was appointed Goldfields Commissioner for the gold fields on the West Coast, he offered Fitzgerald the second administrative role on the West Coast in 1867. Fitzgerald accepted and became

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...

, sheriff, warden and commissioner of crown lands, based in

Hokitika Hokitika is a town in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island, south of Greymouth, and close to the mouth of the Hokitika River. It is the seat and largest town in the Westland District. The town's estimated population is as of ...

. In January 1868, he was appointed Registration and Returning Officer. He was the returning officer for elections to

Westland County Westland County, also known as County of Westland, was a local government area on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It existed from 1868 to 1873, and then from 1876 until 1989. In its first incarnation, it constituted the government f ...

in February 1868, November 1868, July 1870, December 1870, May 1871, and December 1872. He was then returning officer for the elections to

Westland Province The Westland Province was a province of New Zealand from 1873 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. The capital was Hokitika. Area and history The area was part of Canterbury Province when the provinces were created in 1853. By ...

in January 1874. He also acted as returning officer for elections to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, with the first a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in the

Westland Boroughs Westland Boroughs was a parliamentary electorate in the West Coast of New Zealand from 1866 to 1870. Population centres Westland Boroughs was made up of the areas covered by the boroughs of Greymouth and Hokitika. The enabling legislation allow ...

electorate in April 1868, followed by a parliamentary election in the and electorates in January and February , and for the same two electorates in January 1876, and for a by-election in the Totara electorate in April 1877. Fitzgerald filed for bankruptcy in February 1878, which put an end to his public service positions. In the following month, he resigned his position as Vice-President of the Hokitika Savings Bank. His house at Gibson's Quay in Hokitika was sold at auction in May 1878. He was discharged from bankruptcy in June 1878. At the same time as the bankruptcy was discharged, Fitzgerald first stood for the House of Representatives.

Charles Button Charles Edward Button (23 August 1838 – 27 December 1920) was a solicitor, Supreme Court judge, Mayor of Hokitika and later Birkenhead, and an independent conservative Member of Parliament in New Zealand. Born in Tasmania, he came to New Zeala ...

, one of the two representatives for the electorate, resigned on 22 May when constituents passed a resolution that thanked him but expressed regret that he did not support Sir

George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Go ...

. The resulting by-election on 26 June was contested by Fitzgerald and Seymour Thorne George, a North Island resident who was the nephew of the premier, Sir

. Thorne George won the election with a margin of 5% of the vote. Fitzgerald stood in the in the two-member Hokitika electorate, but was beaten by

Richard Seddon Richard John Seddon (22 June 1845 – 10 June 1906) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 15th premier (prime minister) of New Zealand from 1893 until his death. In office for thirteen years, he is to date New Zealand's longest-se ...

and Robert Reid. He moved to Blenheim in about 1880 and took up journalism again, editing a local paper. He then became the editor of the ''

Wanganui Chronicle ''The Whanganui Chronicle'' is New Zealand's oldest newspaper. Based in Whanganui, it celebrated 160 years of publishing in September 2016. It is the main daily paper for the Whanganui, Ruapehu and Rangitīkei regions, including the towns of Patea ...

''. He contested the in the electorate, but was beaten by

Thomas S. Weston Thomas Shailer Weston (7 June 1836 – 15 October 1912), often referred to as Thomas S. Weston, was a judge and 19th-century Member of Parliament from Westland District, Westland, New Zealand. Weston was the patriarch of one of two dominant Cant ...

. He was elected in the

electorate in the 1881 general election while he lived in

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whang ...

and represented the electorate until 1884, when he was defeated by John Bevan with a 4% margin of the votes. He then became editor of the ''New Zealand Times'' in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

for one year, before becoming editor of ''

'' in 1885 or 1886 in succession of

William Henry Triggs William Henry Triggs (10 May 1855 – 17 June 1934) was a New Zealand journalist, newspaper editor, and politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council from 1918 to 1932. Biography He was born in Chichester, England and educate ...

. He remained in the latter position for 19 years until his death. Like his brother James, he was a journalist of considerable ability.

Family and death

Fitzgerald married Jane Michie in 1864. She was lost, presumed drowned, in the sinking of the steamer ''Taiaroa'' in 1886 and though her remains were never found, her cat and some of her possessions were recovered, including a lady's handbag containing two handkerchiefs marked "Jane Fitzgerald." She was on her way from Wellington to be rejoined with her husband after he had furnished a house for them. By coincidence, his dwelling had been named Tararua Cottage in commemoration of the sinking of the SS ''Tararua'' three years earlier, which remains New Zealand's worst civilian shipping disaster. Fitzgerald wrote his will on 17 May 1904 and made his niece Geraldine Fitzgerald of Christchurch, his brother James' daughter, the sole executor of his will. He died at

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

Hospital on 7 June 1904 after having been ill for six weeks. Forceful as an editor and holding strong political opinions, he was otherwise a very private person. He had no children. He is buried at Timaru Cemetery.

References

External links

photo of gravestone
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Gerard G 1832 births 1904 deaths Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand editors New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates People from Timaru Unsuccessful candidates in the 1879 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1884 New Zealand general election People from Bath, Somerset English emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand public servants New Zealand journalists Burials at Timaru Cemetery 19th-century New Zealand politicians Sheriffs of New Zealand