Thomas FitzGerald (died October/November 1834) was an Irish politician and slave trader. FitzGerald worked as a merchant and became wealthy in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. The Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery states that he was probably the owner of Richmond Hill in Demerera, and as having been a slave factor in the colony as of 1807. In 1823, FitzGerald returned to Ireland, where he purchased Fane Valley in

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

. At the

1832 UK general election The 1832 United Kingdom general election, the first after the Reform Act 1832, Reform Act, saw the Whigs (British political party), Whigs win a large majority, with the Tories winning less than 30% of the vote. Political situation The Charles ...

, he stood in

for the

Repeal Association The Repeal Association was an Irish mass membership political movement set up by Daniel O'Connell in 1830 to campaign for a repeal of the Acts of Union of 1800 between Great Britain and Ireland. The Association's aim was to revert Ireland to th ...

, and won election. He died in 1834, while still in office. FitzGerald had two sons: Thomas Christopher, and

Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald (26 April 1830 – 24 November 1925) was an Anglo-Irish author and critic, painter and sculptor. Fitzgerald was born in Ireland at Fane Valley, County Louth, the son of Thomas FitzGerald. He was educated at Belve ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:FitzGerald, Thomas Year of birth missing 1834 deaths Irish Repeal Association MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Louth constituencies (1801–1922) People from County Louth Slave traders UK MPs 1832–1835