Lord Edward FitzGerald

Lord Edward FitzGerald
Born(1763-10-15)15 October 1763
Carton House, County Kildare, Kingdom of Ireland
Died4 June 1798(1798-06-04) (aged 34)
Newgate Prison, Dublin, Kingdom of Ireland
Buried
Allegiance Kingdom of Great Britain
United Irishmen
Service / branch British Army
Years of service1779–1790
RankMajor
Battles / warsBattle of Eutaw Springs
Spouse(s)Stéphanie Caroline Anne Syms
Children
Relations

Lord Edward FitzGerald (15 October 1763 – 4 June 1798) was an Irish aristocrat and nationalist. He abandoned his prospects as a distinguished veteran of British service in the American War of Independence, and as an Irish Parliamentarian, to embrace the cause of an independent Irish republic. Unable to reconcile with Ireland's Protestant Ascendancy or with the Kingdom's English-appointed administration, he sought inspiration in revolutionary France where, in 1792, he met and befriended Thomas Paine. From 1796 he became a leading proponent within the Society of United Irishmen of a French-assisted insurrection. On the eve of the intended uprising in May 1798, he was fatally wounded in the course of arrest.