Historical person
Lord Edward FitzGerald
1763–1798
Lord Edward FitzGerald was an Irish aristocrat, soldier and revolutionary who became one of the leading organisers of the Society of United Irishmen. After serving in the British Army and travelling in North America and revolutionary France, he embraced republican politics and worked to prepare an armed uprising intended to establish an independent Irish republic.
FitzGerald helped organise plans for a nationwide rising and became one of the movement’s principal military leaders. Betrayed and arrested shortly before the rebellion began, he died from wounds received during his capture.
Thomas Pakenham’s The Year of Liberty places Lord Edward FitzGerald among the principal organisers whose plans for the United Irish rising were disrupted before rebellion began. His work on preparations for a nationwide insurrection, followed by betrayal, arrest and death from wounds, embodies the leadership crisis caused by government infiltration. Pakenham sets FitzGerald’s fate beside Wolfe Tone, Humbert and the regional risings to show how revolutionary strategy fragmented into very different local wars in 1798.
Non Fiction
Non Fiction featuring Lord Edward FitzGerald (1 book)
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.