John FitzGibbon (c.1708 – 11 April 1780) was an Irish lawyer and politician.

Early life

FitzGibbon was the eldest son of Thomas Fitzgibbon of Ballyseeda and Honor Hayes. He was raised 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 ...

as a

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, and at the age of sixteen he went to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

to study medicine. He later quit medicine and studied law, entering the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in London on 8 December 1726.

Career

He was called to the

Irish bar The Bar of Ireland ( ga, Barra na hÉireann) is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Ba ...

in 1731, and in November of the same year he converted to the established

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

. He also published a legal textbook, ''Notes on cases determined by Westminster'', in 1731. Fitzgibbon amassed a considerable personal fortune practising as a barrister and consulting lawyer, with which he purchased

Mountshannon House Mountshannon House was a large mansion in Lisnagry, near Castleconnell, County Limerick, built in the mid-18th century. It was the home of John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare. It was burnt down during the Anglo-Irish war in 1920. Today it is mos ...

. Despite his conversion, he remained sympathetic to Irish Catholics and in March 1767 Fitzgibbon defended in court Catholics accused of

Whiteboy The Whiteboys ( ga, na Buachaillí Bána) were a secret Irish agrarian organisation in 18th-century Ireland which defended tenant-farmer land-rights for subsistence farming. Their name derives from the white smocks that members wore in their ...

crimes and treason. In 1761, FitzGibbon was elected as a

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 ...

for

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in 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 fra ...

; in 1768 he was elected to sit for Jamestown. At first he supported the government but by 1763 he had joined the opposition, where he remained until he retired from parliament in 1776. He interested himself in the economic development of Ireland and was the author of a pamphlet, ''Essay on commerce'', published in 1777.

Family

On 8 February 1738, he married Elinor Grove; they had four sons and three daughters. The three eldest sons died young, while the fourth was John FitzGibbon, who was also a lawyer and was made

Earl of Clare Earl of Clare was a title of British nobility created three times: once each in the peerages of England, Great Britain and Ireland. The title derives from Clare, Suffolk, where a prominent Anglo-Norman family was seated since the Norman Conques ...

in 1795. One of FitzGibbon's daughters was Arabella FitzGibbon, who married

James St John Jeffereyes James St John Jeffereyes (1734 – 14 September 1780), also recorded as St John Jeffreys, was an Anglo-Irish soldier, landowner and politician. Jeffereyes was the son of the diplomat James Jeffreys and Anne Brodrick, and the grandson of Sir Ja ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:FitzGibbon, John Year of birth uncertain 1780 deaths Converts to Anglicanism from Roman Catholicism Irish Anglicans Irish barristers Irish MPs 1761–1768 Irish MPs 1769–1776 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Dublin constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Leitrim constituencies