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William Thomas Fitzgerald

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William Thomas Fitzgerald (13 April 1759 - 9 July 1829) was an English poet.

Miscellaneous poems

William Thomas Fitzgerald (1759-1829), Micellaneous Poems (1801). Forgotten Books, 2018. Courtesy Amazon.com.

Life[]

Youth and education[]

Fitzgerald was born in England of an Irish father,[1] Colonel John Austen (or Anster) Fitzgerald of the Dutch army,[2] and Henrietta (Martin) (daughter of an Antigua planter and sister of Samuel Martin, Secretary to the Treasury), and claimed connection with the Duke of Leinster's family.[1]

William was educated at Greenwich School; the Royal College of Navarre in the University of Paris; and the Inner Temple, where his tutor was Vicary Gibbs[3]

Career[]

In 1782 Fitzgerald was given a position in the Naval Pay Office, where he worked for some 25 years.[4]

"On all public occasions," as the Annual Register for 1829 remarks, his "pen was ever ready." His more notable productions are either prologues for plays or appeals to England's loyalty and valour. These latter he was in the habit of reciting, year after year, at the public dinners of the Literary Fund, of which he was a vice-president.[1]

The Annual Register for 1803 speaks of the company at the dinner for that year as being "roused almost to rapture" by Fitzgerald's "Tyrtæan compositions,"' and says that "words cannot convey an idea of the force and animation" with which he recited, "or of the enthusiasm with which he was encored."[1]

A collection of Fitzgerald's poems appeared in 1801 as Miscellaneous Poems, dedicated to the Right Honourable the Earl of Moira, by William Thomas Fitzgerald, esq.,' Fitzgerald's Nelson's Triumph appeared in 1798, his Tears of Hibernia dispelled by the Union in 1802, and his Nelson's Tomb in 1806. In 1814 Fitzgerald issued a collected edition of his verses in denunciation of Napoleon Bonaparte.[1]

He married Maria (Howarth); their son was artist John Anster Fitzgerald.[2]

Fitzgerald died at Paddington on 9 July 1829.[1]

Writing[]

Fitzgerald has been described as "one of the foremost loyalist versifiers of his day".[5] His verses are very bad. Perhaps the poem which most nearly approaches the famous parody in the Rejected Addresses is the "Address to every Loyal Briton on the Threatened Invasion of his Country;" but the "Britons to Arms!" of a later date is almost of equal merit.[1]

William Cobbett nicknamed Fitzgerald the "Small Beer Poet." Byron referred to his Literary Fund recitals in the opening couplet of English Bards and Scotch Reviewers:

Still must I hear? shall hoarse Fitzgerald bawl
His creaking couplets in a tavern hall?[1]

Fitzgerald replied to Byron, though not publicly; in a copy of English Bards he wrote:

I find Lord Byron scorns my Muse,
Our Fates are ill agreed;
The Verse is safe, I can't abuse
Those lines I never read.

This copy of the poem somehow came into Byron's possession, and he added a verse reply of his own, dismissing Fitzgerald as a "scribbler."[6]

Fitzgerald was also parodied in the Rejected Addresses of the brothers James and Horace Smith; indeed, it is unquestionably in the "Loyal Effusion" of the Rejected Addresses, and the opening couplet of English Bards and Scotch Reviewers that Fitzgerald will live.[1]

It is only just to record that Fitzgerald bore no malice against the Smith brothers for their parody. Meeting a brother \, probably the latter, at a Literary Fund dinner, he came to him with great good humour, and said, "I mean to recite.... You'll have some more of 'Gods bless the regent and the Duke of York.'"[1]

Recognition[]

A portrait of Fitzgereald appears in the European Magazine for 1804.[1]

Publications[]

Poetry[]

  • The Tribute of an Humble Muse: To an unfortunate captive queen, the widowed mourner of a murdered king. London: Hookham & Carpenter / J. Sewell / and H.D. Symonds, 1793.
  • Lines on the Murder of the Queen of France; with admonition to the Infant King, Louis XVII. London: Hockham & Carpenter, 1794.
  • Nelson's Triumph; or, The battle of the Nile: A poem. London: John Stockdale, 1799.
  • Miscellaneous Poems. London: Bulmer, 1801.
  • Britons! To arms!. London: I. Gold, for James Asperne, 1803.
  • An Independent Tribute to the Memory of the Right Hon. Willima Pitt (with engraving by Edward Orme). London: J. Nichols, for Edward Orme, 1806.
  • Poems for the Anniversary of the Literary Fund, 1811. London: J. Nichols, 1811.
  • Poems for the Anniversary of the Literary Fund, 1813. London: Nichols & Bentley, 1813.
  • The Tyrant's Downfall / Napoleonics / The white cockade. London: J. Nichols & Bentley, for Longman, 1814.
  • Glee for the Anniversary of the Literary Fund. London: Nichols & Bentley, 1814.
  • Wellington's Triumph; or, The battle of Waterloo. London: J. Hatchard, 1815, 1825.
  • An Elegy on the Death of the Princess Charlotte. 1817.[4]
  • An Address for the Anniversary of the Literary Fund. London: Nichols & Bentley, 1817.
  • Poems for the anniversary of the Literary Fund, 1819. London: J. Nichols, 1819.
  • The Literary Fund Patron, the King's Most Excellent Majesty: Anniversary poem, May 10, 1821. London: J. Nichols, 1821.
  • An Anniversary Poem for the Literary Fund Society. London: J. Nicholls, 1825.

Songs[]

  • The Republican's Picture: To be sung by every honest Englishman, to the tune of Derry Down or any other tune he pleases. London: 1792.
  • The Sturdy Reformer: A new song, exemplifying to the good people of England, the doctrines of the rights of man. London: H.D. Symonds, 1792.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[7]

See also[]

References[]

  •  Marzials, Frank Thomas (1885–1900) "Fitzgerald, William Thomas" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 152 London: Smith, Elder, p. 152  . Wikisource, Web, Apr. 12, 2020.

Notes[]

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Marzials, 152.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 JohnAnster Fitzgerald, MacConnal Mason. Web, Apr. 12, 2020.
  3. ↑ William Thomas Fitz-Gerald -The Annual Biography and Obituary 1830 Longman Rees & Co, London, 1830
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 William Thomas Fitzgerald (1759-1829), English Poetry, 1579-1830, Center for Applied Technologies in the Humnities, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. Web, June 20, 2016.
  5. ↑ Timothy Jenks, 'Contesting the Hero: The Funeral of Admiral Lord Nelson', The Journal of British Studies, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Oct., 2000), 422.
  6. ↑ Ernest Hartley Coleridge, ed., The Works of Lord Bryon, Vol. 18, 1898.
  7. ↑ Search results = au:William Thomas Fitzgerald, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, June 20, 2016.

External links[]

Poems
Books
About

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Fitzgerald, William Thomas

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