William Fitzgerald

Who was William Fitzgerald?

William Fitzgerald was an Anglican bishop, first of Cork, Cloyne and Ross and then of Killaloe and Clonfert.

FitzGerald, son of Maurice FitzGerald, M.D., by his second wife, Mary, daughter of Edward William Burton of Clifden, county Clare, and younger brother of Francis Alexander FitzGerald, third baron of the exchequer, was born at Lifford, Limerick, 3 Dec. 1814. He was first educated at Middleton, co. Cork, and then entering Trinity College, Dublin, in November 1830, obtained a scholarship in 1833, the primate's Hebrew prize in 1834, and the Downes's premium for composition in 1835 and 1837. He took his degree of B.A. 1835, his M.A. 1848, and his B.D. and D.D. 1853.

He was ordained deacon 25 April 1838, and priest 23 Aug. 1847, and while serving as curate of Lackagh, Kildare, made his first essay as an author. Philip Bury Duncan of New College, Oxford, having offered a sum of £50, for an essay on Logomachy, or the Abuse of Words, Fitzgerald bore off the prize with the special commendation of the donor and an additional grant of 25l. for the expense of printing the essay. After serving the curacy of Clontarf, Dublin, from 1846–8 he was collated to the vicarage and prebend of Donoghmore, in the diocese of Dublin, on 16 Feb. in the latter year. From 1847 to 1852 he was professor of moral philosophy in Trinity College, Dublin, and from 1852 to 1857 was professor of ecclesiastical history in the same university. His next promotion was to the vicarage of St. Anne's, Dublin, 18 July 1851, whence he removed to the perpetual curacy of Monkstown, Dublin, on 13 May 1855, being in the same year also appointed prebendary of Timothan, Dublin, and archdeacon of Kildare.