William Thomas Fitzgerald

William Thomas Fitzgerald was descended from an Irish family, son of a colonel in the Dutch service at Antigua. He was educated at Greenwich School, Paris, and at the Inner Temple. In 1782 Fitzgerald was given a position in the Navy Pay Office, where he served for some 25 years. He wrote a long series of patriotic poems attacking the French Revolution, and was long associated with the Literary Fund, where he acquired fame for his recitations.

TEXT RECORDS:

1808An Address for the Anniversary of the Literary Fund, at Freemason's Hall, May 3, 1808.
1818[Literary Fund Address for 1818.]

PUBLICATIONS:

The republican's picture: to be sung by every honest Englishman, to the tune of Derry Down or any other tune he pleases. 1792.
The sturdy reformer, a new song, exemplifying to the good people of England, the doctrines of the rights of man. 1792.
The tribute of an humble muse to an unfortunate captive queen the widowed mourner of a murdered king. 1793.
Lines on the murder of the Queen of France, with admonition to the Infant King, Louis XVII. 1794.
Nelson's triumph: or, The battle of the Nile; a poem. 1799.
Miscellaneous poems. 1801.
Poems for the anniversary of the Literary Fund, 1811. 1811.
The tyrant's downfall; Napoleonics; and, The white cockade. 1814.
Wellington's triumph: or, The battle of waterloo. 1815.
An Elegy on the Death of the Princess Charlotte. 1817.
Poems for the anniversary of the Literary Fund, 1819. 1819.
The literary fund patron, the King's Most Excellent Majesty, anniversary poem, May 10, 1821. 1821.
Glee for the anniversary of the Literary Fund. 1822.
An anniversary poem for the Literary Fund Society. 1825.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

Irish
English
Anglican

Greenwich School
Inns of Court
Inner Temple

clerk
actor
poet

Gentleman's Magazine
European Magazine
The Morning Post
The Sun
Literary Panorama

William Boscawen
Sir James Bland Burges
William Jerdan
Granville Penn
Joseph Snow
John Taylor Esq.

REFERENCE:

DNB; not NCBEL; CBEL (3rd ed).

David Rivers, Literary Memoirs of Living Authors (1798); "William Thomas Fitzgerald" European Magazine 45 (March 1804) 163-64 [portrait]; "Mr. Fitzgerald and the Literary Fund" Scourge and Satirist 1 (April 1811) 279-81; John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-15) 9: 240n.; Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors (1816); Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); A New Biographical Dictionary of 3000 Cotemporary Public Characters (1825); obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 99 (November 1829) 471-73; obituary in New Monthly Magazine NS 30 (January 1830) 31; Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); D. J. O'Donoghue, Poets of Ireland (1912).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for William Thomas Fitzgerald:

1.	1800  Robert Southey to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1 January 1800; New Letters, ed. Curry (1965) 1:214.
2.	1802  T., "To William Tho. Fitzgerald, Esq." The Sun (29 April 1802).
3.	1802  Anonymous, Review of Fitzgerald, Miscellaneous Poems; Poetical Register and Repository of Fugitive Poetry for 1801 (1802) 434.
4.	1802  Thomas Dermody, "Sonnet, to W. T. Fitzgerald, Esq." Poems on Various Subjects (1802) 158.
5.	1806  Vindex, "On Duplex" The Sun (26 March 1806).
6.	1809  Lord Byron, in English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers (1809); Poetical Works, ed. E. H. Coleridge (1898-1904) 1:297 & n.
7.	1809  Anonymous, "On Hearing a Gentleman, at a public Anniversary, recite, for the tenth time, the Defeat and Downfall of Bonaparte" The Star (21 April 1809).
8.	1812  Anonymous, in "The Rejected Bards" The Satirist 11 (November 1812) 379 & 382n.
9.	1814  Lord Byron to Thomas Moore, 8 January 1814; Letters and Journals, ed. Rowland E. Prothero (1898-1901) 3:10.
10.	1814  George Daniel, in The Modern Dunciad (1814; 1815) 105-06.
11.	1815  John Nichols, in Literary Anecdotes of the XVIII Century (1812-15) 9: 240n.
12.	1827  John Taylor Esq., "To W. T. Fitzgerald, Esq. in Return for the Present of an Opera-Glass" Poems on Various Subjects (1827) 1:300.
13.	1830  John Taylor Esq., "To the Memory of the late William Thomas Fitzgerald" Gentleman's Magazine 100 (May 1830) 542.
14.	1832  John Taylor Esq., in Records of my Life (1832) 1:389-90, 2:396-98.
15.	1833  James Smith, Note to Rejected Addresses (1833; 1888) 39-41.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for William Thomas Fitzgerald:

1.	1798  David Rivers, in Literary Memoirs of Living Authors (1798) 1:188-89.
2.	1804  P. H., "William Thomas Fitzgerald" European Magazine 45 (March 1804) 163-64.
3.	1816  Anonymous, in Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors (1816) 116-17.
4.	1825  Anonymous, "W. T. Fitzgerald" A New Biographical Dictionary of 3000 Cotemporary Public Characters (1825) 3:103-04.
5.	1829  Anonymous, Obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 99 (November 1829) 471-73.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1792  Samuel Johnson:   William Thomas Fitzgerald, "Hint for an Inscription to the Memory of Johnson and Garrick" Diary, or Woodfall's Register (4 April 1792).
2.	1811  William Boscawen:   William Thomas Fitzgerald, "A Triubute of Friendship to the Memory of William Boscawen, Esq." Morning Post (17 May 1811).