Robert FitzGerald

Alfred Webb

A Compendium of Irish Biography

1878

FitzGerald, Robert, second son of the 16th Earl of Kildare, and father of the 19th Earl, born August 1637, was an active promoter of the restoration of Charles II.

He received estates, and many offices of trust and emolument were conferred upon him. Opposing James II.'s Irish policy, he was deprived of his lands and was for a time confined in Trinity College with about fifty other persons of distinction. When the news of the battle of the Boyne arrived, he was released, and exerted himself to preserve Dublin from pillage before its surrender to William III., exhibiting the greatest nerve and executive capacity. On the 6th July, when William entered Dublin in state, it was FitzGerald that presented him with the keys of the castle and city. The King returned them, saying: "Sir, they are in good hands, you deserve them well and may keep them." He was shortly afterwards restored to all his estates and offices of trust, and reappointed on the Privy-Council. He died 31st January 1699, aged 61. He was the author of a work extolling the benefits of salt water sweetened (Lond. 1683), and A Full and True Account of the late Revolution in Dublin (Lond. 1690).

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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