James Gubbins Fitzgerald (1850 – 7 May 1926) was a medical practitioner and an
Irish nationalist
Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...
politician and
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 of ...
(MP) in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great B ...
. As a member of the
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish national ...
, he represented
South Longford from 1888 to 1892. He was a strong supporter of
Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...
.
Fitzgerald was born in 1850 in
County Limerick
"Remember Limerick"
, image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Ireland
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Munster
, subdivision ...
to Maurice Fitzgerald and Maria Teresa Gubbins. He was baptised on 26 December 1850 in
Kilfinane
Kilfinnane or Kilfinane () ( or , ) is a small market town in County Limerick, Ireland. The town's name comes from the Irish (church) and (Finnian), making its meaning "Church of Saint Finnian". Kilfinnane is located approximately 40  ...
.
His grand nephew was Irish hurler
Tommy McCarthy (hurler).
Fitzgerald trained at the Meath Hospital and Mercer's Hospital, Dublin. He won a prize certificate for surgery in 1872. Thereafter he moved to England where he became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1876 and was an assistant surgeon at the Edmonton Infirmary. He became a Licenciate of the Apothecaries’ Hall, Dublin in 1877 and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons at Edinburgh in 1884. He lived the rest of his life in
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...
, at
Brixton
Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...
,
Balham
Balham () is an area in south London, England, mostly within the London Borough of Wandsworth with small parts within the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. The area has been settled since Saxon times and appears in the Domesday Book as B ...
,
Norbury
Norbury is an area of south London. It shares the postcode London SW16 with neighbouring Streatham. Norbury is south of Charing Cross.
Etymology
The name Norbury derives from ''North Burh'', (North Borough). Some local histories note tha ...
and finally from 1919 at
Beddington
Beddington is a suburban settlement in the London Borough of Sutton on the boundary with the London Borough of Croydon. Beddington is formed from a village of the same name which until early the 20th century still included land which became t ...
.
He was elected unopposed to represent South Longford at a by-election on 30 June 1888, filling the vacancy created by the resignation of Laurence Connolly.
When the Irish Parliamentary Party split in December 1890 over Parnell's leadership, Fitzgerald was one of the inner circle of Parnell's supporters. He was one of the small group to be read Parnell's manifesto in reply to Gladstone on 28 November 1890 before its publication, and took part with Parnell and other Parnellite MPs in the repossession by force of the newspaper ''United Ireland'' on 11 December 1890. He was active in the by-election campaigns which took place between then and Parnell's death in October 1891. He was one of the few people to see the dead Parnell at Brighton.
Fitzgerald did not contest the
general election in 1892. At the
general election in 1895 he attempted to dislodge the sitting Anti-Parnellite MP,
Daniel Ambrose
Daniel Ambrose (c. 1843 – 17 December 1895) was a medical practitioner and an Irish nationalist politician and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. He was born in Loughill Co Lim ...
– also a doctor – at
South Louth, but was defeated by almost 2 to 1.
However, by 1897 Fitzgerald had become alienated from his Parnellite colleagues and their leader John Redmond. In a letter printed in the
Freeman's Journal
The ''Freeman's Journal'', which was published continuously in Dublin from 1763 to 1924, was in the nineteenth century Ireland's leading nationalist newspaper.
Patriot journal
It was founded in 1763 by Charles Lucas and was identified with radi ...
on 5 March 1897 he referred to 'the hollow sham of Redmondism' and wrote 'any Parnellites or Nationalists in the country who still believe that Parnellism and Redmondism are, or ever have been, one and the same thing, will now be undeceived'. In 1910 Fitzgerald was provisional chairman of the Central London branch of
William O'Brien
William O'Brien (2 October 1852 – 25 February 1928) was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of ...
’s
All-for-Ireland League
The All-for-Ireland League (AFIL) was an Irish, Munster-based political party (1909–1918). Founded by William O'Brien MP, it generated a new national movement to achieve agreement between the different parties concerned on the historically d ...
, which was opposed to the reunited Irish Parliamentary Party led by John Redmond.
Fitzgerald was commissioned as a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps at some time prior to 1921. In that year he joined the London Committee of the Irish Cancer Research Fund.
His death on 7 May 1926 at the age of 73
[Index of Deaths] was apparently unmarked by any obituary.
Footnotes
Sources
*F. S. L. Lyons, ''The Fall of Parnell 1890-91'', London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1960
*The Medical Directory (annual), 1877–1926
*The Medical Register (annual), 1877–1926
*''The Times'', 2 July 1888, 12 December 1890, 6 July 1910, 23 November 1921, 15 June 1926
*Brian M. Walker (ed.), ''Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922'', Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 1978
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, James Gubbins
1852 births
1926 deaths
Irish Parliamentary Party MPs
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Longford constituencies (1801–1922)
UK MPs 1886–1892
Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons
Physicians of the Mercer's Hospital