Robert Allan "Fitz" Fitzgerald (1 October 1834 – 28 October 1881) was an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er and administrator who served as

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC) Secretary. Fitzgerald was born at Purley House in Berkshire, but was brought up at Shalstone Manor, Bucks – his mother – Sarah Anne Elizabeth Purefoy Jervoise' family home. He was educated at Harrow from 1847 to 1852, playing for the Harrow XI in 1852. He proceeded to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, where he played for

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

in 1854 and 1856. As a right-handed batsman and a round-arm right-arm fast bowler, he represented

, MCC,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, in 46 first-class matches between 1854 and 1874. He also played for

I Zingari I Zingari (from dialectalized Italian , meaning "the Gypsies"; corresponding to standard Italian ') are English and Australian amateur cricket clubs, founded in 1845 and 1888 respectively. It is the oldest and perhaps the most famous of the ' ...

, the Gentleman of MCC, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. Between 1854 and 1874 he played 50 matches per year and in 1866 scored over 1,000 runs. Fitzgerald was popular and witty.

Lord Harris Colonel George Robert Canning Harris, 4th Baron Harris, (3 February 1851 – 24 March 1932), generally known as Lord Harris, was a British colonial administrator and Governor of Bombay. He was also an English amateur cricketer, mainly active ...

wrote of him: "Whether it was the magnificence of his swagger, the luxuriance of his beard, the fun that rolled out of him so easily, or the power of his swiping, I do not know, but as regards each he could not escape notice." Harris accompanied Fitzgerald on the first MCC tour abroad to North America in 1872. Fitzgerald's own book, ''Wickets in the West'' was published in 1873 and records this tour. Among the tour party was

WG Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equal ...

who had been proposed by Fitzgerald in 1867 as a member of MCC. He succeeded

Alfred Baillie Alfred William Baillie (22 June 1830 – 10 May 1867) was a Scottish people, Scottish first-class cricketer and barrister who served as secretary of the Marylebone Cricket Club. The son of the Scottish people, Scot Colonel Hugh Duncan Baillie o ...

as Secretary of the MCC (1863–1876), Fitzgerald sought greater influence for MCC "off the field" and did much to help improve Lord's Cricket Ground and its facilities. He became MCC's first paid secretary in 1865. Fitzgerald was brother-in-law to his close friend Hon Sir Edward Chandos Leigh. They were both members of

on regular tours to Ireland; to Paris in 1867 and around the country estates of England and Wales. Both enjoyed the pleasures of touring and entertaining their hosts in amateur dramatics. This is recorded in Fitzgerald's own cricketing scrapbook and also John Lorraine Baldwin's scrapbooks dating back to the origin of the I Zingari in 1845. In 1876, Fitzgerald was asked to resign his post as MCC secretary due to deteriorating health. It has been speculated that he contracted

neurosyphilis Neurosyphilis refers to infection of the central nervous system in a patient with syphilis. In the era of modern antibiotics the majority of neurosyphilis cases have been reported in HIV-infected patients. Meningitis is the most common neurologic ...

, which incidentally was the same illness that killed

Lord Randolph Churchill Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (13 February 1849 – 24 January 1895) was a British statesman. Churchill was a Tory radical and coined the term 'Tory democracy'. He inspired a generation of party managers, created the National Union of ...

. Fitzgerald died in 1881 at his home in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, at the age of 47. A tangible memorial to him is on display at the MCC museum: his illustrated scrapbooks recording matches played between 1859 – 1866. The book contains the earliest cricketing photographs taken. Fitzgerald was also a keen amateur photographer. Fitzgerald also wrote a humorous book titled ''Jerks in from Short Leg'' ¹published in 1865 and contributed to numerous cricketing publications including ''Bell's Life'' between 1859 – 1874. He also proof-read

Arthur Haygarth Arthur Haygarth (4 August 1825 – 1 May 1903) was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians. He played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club and Sussex between 1844 and 1861, as well as num ...

's ''Score & Biographies'' which MCC supported during his time as secretary. The Hon Sir Edward Chandos Leigh as President of MCC in 1887 paid homage to Fitzgerald. In his autobiography ''Bar, Bat and Bit'', Leigh wrote: "It was, I think, a fortunate thing for the Club and for the cricketing world generally when he (Fitzgerald) became secretary, for a new era seems to have dawned at Lord's with his arrival, and all the vast improvements which took place there owed their origin, inception, and development to his fertile brain and his untiring energy".

References

External links

''Jerks in From Short-Leg''- Google Books

"Wickets in the West" - Internet Archive, University of Alberta Libraries

at Cricinfo

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Robert Allan 1834 births 1881 deaths Cambridge University cricketers English cricket administrators English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Middlesex cricketers People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Secretaries of the Marylebone Cricket Club I Zingari cricketers Gentlemen of the South cricketers North of the Thames v South of the Thames cricketers Gentlemen of Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Non-international England cricketers 19th-century British businesspeople