George FitzGerald, 16th Earl of Kildare

Alfred Webb

A Compendium of Irish Biography

1878

FitzGerald, George, 16th Earl of Kildare, great-grandson of 9th Earl, born January 1612, was known as the "Fairy Earl," apparently for no other reason than that his portrait, still extant, was painted on a small scale. Given in charge to the Earl of Cork, he, when but eighteen, married the Earl's daughter, Lady Joan Boyle. The castle of Maynooth, which had fallen into decay on the death of the 14th Earl of Kildare, was restored and improved for him by his guardian. In 1638 he was committed to prison for refusing to submit the title-deeds of his estates to the Earl of Strafford. He took the Anglo-Irish side in the War of 1641-'52, and suffered much in estate — Maynooth Castle being pillaged and dismantled by the Confederates. After Cromwell's landing in 1649, his regiment was with many others disbanded. He died in 1660, aged about 48, and was buried at Kildare.

Sources

202. Kildare, The Earls of, and their Ancestors: from 1057 to 1773, with Supplement: Marquis of Kildare. 2 vols. Dublin, 1858-'62.

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