Lieutenant-General James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, PC (Ire) (29 May 1722 – 19 November 1773), styled Lord Offaly until 1743 and known as The Earl of Kildare between 1743 and 1761 and as The Marquess of Kildare between 1761 and 1766, was an Anglo-Irish nobleman, soldier and politician.

Background

Leinster was the son of

Robert FitzGerald, 19th Earl of Kildare Robert FitzGerald, 19th Earl of Kildare PC (Ire) (4 May 1675 – 20 February 1743), known as Robert FitzGerald until 1707, was an Irish peer. Background Kildare was the son of the Hon. Robert FitzGerald, younger son of George FitzGerald, 16th E ...

, and Lady Mary, daughter of

William O'Brien, 3rd Earl of Inchiquin William MacWilliam O'Brien, 8th Baron of Inchiquin, 3rd Baron O'Brien of Burren, 3rd Earl of Inchiquin PC (1662 – 24 December 1719) was an Irish nobleman. Life William O'Brien was the son of William O'Brien, 2nd Earl of Inchiquin and Lady M ...

Career

Leinster 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 ...

for Athy from 1741 before succeeding his father as 20th Earl of Kildare in 1743. He was sworn of the Irish Privy Council in 1746 and in 1747, on the occasion of his marriage (see below), he was created Viscount Leinster, of

Taplow Taplow is a village and civil parish in the Unitary Authority of Buckinghamshire, England. It sits on the left bank of the River Thames, facing Maidenhead in the neighbouring county of Berkshire, with Cippenham and Burnham to the east. It is the ...

in the County of Buckingham, in the Peerage of Great Britain, and took his seat in the British

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

that same year. From 1749 to 1755 he was one of the leaders of the Popular Party in Ireland, and served as the country's

Master-General of the Ordnance The Master-General of the Ordnance (MGO) was a very senior British military position from 1415 to 2013 (except 1855–1895 and 1939–1958) with some changes to the name, usually held by a serving general. The Master-General of the Ordnance was ...

between 1758 and 1766, becoming Colonel of the

Royal Irish Artillery The Royal Irish Artillery was an Irish regiment of the British army in the 18th century. It was formed in 1755 as The Artillery Company of Ireland. The name was changed in 1760 to The Royal Regiment of Irish Artillery. They were recruited all over ...

in 1760. He was promoted to

Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

in 1761 and to Lieutenant-General in 1770. In 1761 Lord Kildare was created Earl of Offaly and Marquess of Kildare in the

Peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

and in 1766 he was further honoured when he was made Duke of Leinster, becoming by this time the Premier Duke, Marquess and Earl in the Peerage of Ireland.

Family

Leinster married the 15-year-old

Lady Emily Lennox Emily FitzGerald, Duchess of Leinster (6 October 1731 – 27 March 1814), known before 1747 as Lady Emily Lennox, from 1747 to 1761 as The Countess of Kildare and from 1761 to 1766 as The Marchioness of Kildare, was the second of the famous Lenno ...

(6 October 1731 –

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, 27 March 1814), daughter of

Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, 2nd Duke of Lennox, 2nd Duke of Aubigny, (18 May 17018 August 1750) of Goodwood House near Chichester in Sussex, was a British nobleman and politician. He was the son of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmo ...

and one of the famous

Lennox Sisters The Lennox sisters were four eighteenth-century British aristocrats, the daughters of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond (1701–1750) by his wife Lady Sarah Cadogan (1705–1751). The four sisters were: * Caroline Fox, 1st Baroness Holland (17 ...

, in London on 7 February 1747. She was a great-granddaughter of King Charles II and was therefore a distant fifth cousin of

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

(both of them were descended from King

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

). The couple had nineteen children: *George FitzGerald, Earl of Offaly (15 January 1748 – Richmond House, 26 September 1765). *

William FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster William Robert FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster, KP, PC (Ire) (12/13 March 1749 – 20 October 1804) was an Irish liberal politician and landowner. He was born in London. Career FitzGerald made his Grand Tour between 1768 and 1769. During th ...

(Arlington Place, Piccadilly,

, 12 March 1749 – Carton House, Kildare, 20 October 1804). *Lady Caroline FitzGerald (1750 – 1754). *Lady Emily Mary FitzGerald (15 March 1751 – 8 April 1818), married

Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont KB PC(I) (6 April 1738 – 20 October 1800), was an Irish peer. He held a senior political position as one of the joint Postmasters General of Ireland. Charles was briefly styled as The 5th Baron Coote bet ...

and Baron Coote of Coolony. The couple had five children, one son who died young (born 1776) and four daughters. Emily died in Penzance, Cornwall in 1818 after a lingering illness. *Lady Henrietta FitzGerald (1753 – 1763). *Lady Caroline FitzGerald (born and died 1755). * Charles FitzGerald, 1st Baron Lecale (30 June 1756 – 30 June 1810). * Lady Charlotte Mary Gertrude FitzGerald (29 May 1758 – 13 September 1836), married Joseph Strutt and was made first Baroness Rayleigh. Had issue. *Lady Louisa Bridget FitzGerald (1760 – 1765). *

Lord Henry FitzGerald Lord Henry FitzGerald PC (Ire) (30 July 1761 – 9 July 1829) was the fourth son of the 1st Duke of Leinster and the Duchess of Leinster (née Lady Emily Lennox). A younger brother was the revolutionary Lord Edward FitzGerald. Life Fitzgerald ...

(30 July 1761 – 8 July 1829), general; married Charlotte Boyle and had issue, who take by inheritance the surname "de Ros". *Lady Sophia Sarah Mary FitzGerald (1762 – 21 March 1845). *

Lord Edward FitzGerald Lord Edward FitzGerald (15 October 1763 – 4 June 1798) was an Irish aristocrat who abandoned his prospects as a distinguished veteran of British service in the American War of Independence, and as an Irish Parliamentarian, to embrace the caus ...

(15 October 1763 – 4 June 1798), revolutionary and prominent leader of the

United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional refor ...

during the

1798 rising The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influence ...

. *Lord Robert Stephen FitzGerald (1765 – 2 January 1833), a diplomat; married Sophia Charlotte Fielding and had issue. *Lord Gerald FitzGerald (January 1766 – 1788). Drowned, went down with the ship in which he was serving. *Lord Augustus FitzGerald (1767 – 1771). *Lady Fanny FitzGerald (1770 – 1775). *Lady

Lucy Anne FitzGerald Lady Lucy Anne FitzGerald (5 February 1771 – 20 January 1851) was an Anglo-Irish political radical: a supporter, with her mother Lady Emily, of her cousin, the English Whig reformer Charles James Fox and, with her brother Lord Edward, of th ...

(1771 – 1851), who took part in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. She was married to Admiral Sir Thomas Foley, who served with distinction under Lord Nelson. They had no children. *Lady Louisa FitzGerald (1772 – 1776). *Lord George Simon FitzGerald (16 April 1773 – 1783). Recognized as a son of Lord Kildare, but was in fact the biological son of his brother's tutor, William Ogilvie. Leinster died at

Leinster House Leinster House ( ga, Teach Laighean) is the seat of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Ireland. Originally, it was the ducal palace of the Dukes of Leinster. Since 1922, it is a complex of buildings, of which the former ducal palace is the core, ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, in November 1773, aged 51, and was buried in the city's Christ Church Cathedral. He was succeeded by his second (but eldest surviving) son, William, Marquess of Kildare. The Duchess of Leinster caused a minor sensation by marrying her lover William Ogilvie in 1774, but continued to be known as The Dowager Duchess of Leinster. She had a further three children by him. She died in

in March 1814, aged 82.

Popular culture

In 1999, Irish Screen,

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary seri ...

and WGBH produced ''Aristocrats'', a six-part limited television series based on the lives of Emily Lennox and her sisters. Leinster was portrayed by Ben Daniels.

Ancestry

References

Pedigree of the 1st Duke of Leinster
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leinster, James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of James 1722 births 1773 deaths Irish MPs 1727–1760 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kildare constituencies Politicians from County Kildare Politicians from County Dublin Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Dukes of Leinster (1766) Peers of Great Britain created by George II Barons Offaly