Citizen Lord: The Life of Edward Fitzgerald, Irish Revolutionary - Hardcover

Tillyard, Stella

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374123837 ISBN 13: 9780374123833

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1998

Synopsis

Chronicles the life and times of the radical duke's son who fought in the Revolutionary War, served in the Irish Parliament, was adopted by the Iroquois, and joined the Irish underground

About this title

About the Author

Stella Tillyard graduated from Oxford University and was subsequently Knox Fellow at Harvard. The author of The Impact of Modernism (winner of the Nicolaus Pevsner Memorial Prize) and Aristocrats (FSG, 1994, winner of the Longman/History Today Book of the Year Award and the Fawcett Prize), she has taught at U.C.L.A. and Harvard. Citizen Lord is her second in a trilogy of works Aristocrats was the first) about an extended aristocratic family between 1740 and 1830. She lives in Florence and London with her husband and two children.

Reviews

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the Irish Rising of 1798, and Tillyard (The Impact of Modernism) brings to life one of its heroes. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, son of the 20th Earl of Kildare, was born in London in 1763. His mother moved the family to a Dublin suburb, where they were raised and educated under the tutelage of William Ogilvie. After the death of Edward's father, his mother married Ogilvie and moved the family to France. Edward took his cadet training in Paris and was commissioned a lieutenant in the British Army during the American Revolution. Wounded at Eutaw Springs, he was saved by Tony Small, a slave who would be his lifelong servant and friend. Returning to Dublin after the war, he vowed to make radical changes to end discrimination aimed at Catholics and dissenters. Tillyard takes a look at Edward's journey to America and the influence of the new republic on him, as well as the galvanizing effects of the French Revolution. Joining the Society of United Irishmen, Edward became a key organizer and was forced to go on the run to avoid arrest. Eventually he was tracked down and killed, and the revolution he meticulously planned failed to materialize. This is an exciting look at a revolutionary icon whose life reads almost like a romance novel. Photos.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this bicentennial of the failed United Irishmen rising against Britain, a charismatic Protestant aristocrat, soldier, and radical politician receives the extended treatment usually given to the rebellions legendary Wolfe Tone. Lord Edward Fitzgerald (176398) was the son of the senior peer of Ireland; his mother, Emily, was a member of the Lennox family that Tillyard chronicled in Aristocrats (1994). After serving with the British army in the American Revolution, Lord Edward grew increasingly alienated from his ruling-class milieu and committed to Enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality (he was a friend of the radicals Charles James Fox and Tom Paine). As a member of the Irish Parliament, he came to believe that incremental freedom would never rescue Ireland from the injustice, poverty, and sectarianism that had become rife under British rule. Despite his wish to concede leadership to others in the secret revolutionary group the United Irishmen, he became a leading figure in the gathering anti-English agitation because of his military background, conspicuous bravery, wealth, ties to revolutionary France, and easy familiarity with Irish peasants. In May 1798, however, having become the most hunted man in Dublin, Lord Edward was betrayed and mortally wounded while being captured. His death turned the rebellion into a doomed series of uncoordinated uprisings. Tillyard quotes copiously from letters to and from her hero, vividly bringing to life the privileged background he rejected. However, she is less successful in depicting the course of his life as logical, consistent, and tragically inexorable. This failure results partly from his passionate nature, partly from Tillyards inability to penetrate deeply into Lord Edwards Enlightenment ideals. Nevertheless, with a near-novelistic depiction of scene, Tillyard recreates the physical and emotional world of this reckless, almost Byronic aristocrat with great flair. Lord Edward materializes here as not just an Irish martyr, but as a remarkable figure far in advance of his turbulent times. (8 pages b&w photos, 4 pages color photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald is one of swashbuckling romance. Born the younger son of the first Duke of Leinster, Lord Edward joined the British army and fought in the Revolutionary War in America, where the runaway slave Tony Small saved his life. Tillyard opens her wonderful biography of Lord Edward with this act, showing at once the unusual character of the man she describes. As she notes in her preface, "without Tony, Lord Edward is incomplete, perhaps inexplicable." It is through Tony that we see Lord Edward's commitment to freedom and equality, which led him to regret fighting for the British in America and to join in the French Revolution and attempt to bring freedom to Ireland. From his early, almost idyllic life through his adventures in North America and France; to the betrayals that led to his capture and death, this is both the story of a man born before his time and the timely account of the stirring of Irish revolutionary fervor. An enjoyable and very informative read.AJohn J. Doherty, Montana State Univ., Bozeman
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The following is an excerpt from the book Citizen Lord: The Life of Edward Fitzgerald, Irish Revolutionary by Stella Tillyard Copyright 1997 Stella Tillyard

From Boy to Soldier

Carton, Ireland, January 1764

Turning the carriage on to the drive the coachman bent stiffly and slightly with the pull of the horses. Raindrops that had gathered into glistening puddles on his black leather gloves ran down his cape in rivulets and dripped on to the dove-grey footboard by his boots. The horses' hooves slapped rhythmically on the stony road as they turned in time, sharp to the left and then, like a lazy snake, back and forth between the shallow, artificial hills of the park. At intervals they passed young beech trees that in summer cascaded into deep pools of shade but now, in winter, hung down like frozen fountains towards the ground. To his right the coachman could look through a new wood to the glint of water. Behind him he sensed the progress of the cavalcade as one by one the carriages wheeled off the Dublin road.

Approaching the new bridge across the lake the horses slowed down. As the coach rolled up the slight rise the clattering and shaking echoed between the underside of the arch and the river that rippled like pewter-coloured silk beneath. Over the bridge the horses lifted their heads and made for home, where the great block of Carton House sat dour and square among its offices and stables.

The travellers, too, began to stir with anticipation. In the first carriage the Countess of Kildare pushed one plump foot beyond the hem of her velvet overcoat and pressed it to the floor as if she were stepping out of bed after a long sleep. Her blue-grey eyes opened wide, like summer flowers caught out of season, and she began to point out to her husband the park, the lake and, through the gloom, their house. As she talked with increasing animation, seeing in her mind's eye her children running out to meet her, he leaned forward from the opposite bench. He was attentive and informal, but all the time he maintained some dignity in reserve, some burden of his dynasty which he could never shed.

The Earl glanced out of the window with an impatient anticipation of annoyance, noticing the brambles revealed by the wintry bareness of his park and the slovenly attitude of his gatekeeper leaning on a long, gnarled stick. But he turned back to look at his wife with an expectation of pleasure, contemplating her auburn beauty with as much satisfaction as he had done on the day he had married her sixteen years before. Kildare had married his Countess for love and her political contacts. The second had proved of little use to him; but the first had endured. Even now, four months after she had given birth to their twelfth child, the sight of her small, exquisite hand reaching up to slide down the glass window as they turned the last corner to the front of their house filled him with pride and desire.

When the carriage stopped, bouncing on its springs, the horses shook their heads freely from side to side, releasing the tension of the metal bits and bridles. A valet, resplendent in black worsted breeches, fitted coat and cockaded hat, ran to open the door, and Stoyte, the Earl's butler, emerged from under the portico, stooping slightly as he came down the broad, shallow steps to greet his master. Grasping Stoyte's hand the Earl jumped on to the gravel drive, then leant back into the carriage and handed the Countess out. Together they walked up the steps and in the wide front door, into warmth, yellow candle-light and a crowd of children, some standing silently, others jumping impatiently from foot to foot, all delighted at the interruption of their daily routine. First to reach their mother was Lady Emily, tall enough to throw her arms around her, old enough to be restrained by her own sense of importance and her shyness. Charlotte and Louisa Bridget, five and three, came next; unhesitant, demanding, squealing with excitement. The Countess, casting propriety aside, knelt down to receive her favourite, two-year-old Henry, who came skidding into her across the marble floor shouting, 'Mama, Mama'. Holding him tightly to her she watched little Sophia, whom she had left just crawling six months before, stagger towards her, more intent on walking than on arriving at the skirts of this unfamiliar figure.

Greeting their father with an awed and respectful embrace the children ran one by one to the open door, looking for their brother Charles, who had gone to England with his parents, and their newest brother, Edward. Charles ran in, full of the self-importance of the traveller, waving airily at his admiring siblings. Little Edward was a disappointment, a pair of muddy slate-coloured eyes staring out of a woollen shawl in the arms of his nurse. He was four months old, sickly, and bound for the nursery upstairs.

Lord Edward was born to a great dynastic heritage. The Kildares were the 'premier peers' of Ireland -- the family who had been, by a combination of opportunism and canny marriages, the first recognised members of an aristocracy formed and given legitimacy by the English monarch. Originallyi banditti from Florence, they were said to have served successively Norman, English and Irish kings, before fighting for Edward III and being given, as a reward, the earldom of Kildare. Settling in Ireland, the Fitzgeralds acquired huge tracts of the country's fertile central flatlands and, over the next four centuries, successfully oscillated between pragmatic gestures of loyalty to the English Crown and spectacular acts of defiance that allowed them to claim a distinct Irish identity. They became Protestants at the Reformation and supported William of Orange against Stuart claims to the English Crown. But despite accumulating land and wealth, they maintained their links with Ireland's other old families and never deserted Dublin and the Irish parliament for more lucrative and heady pursuits in London and Westminster.

When he met his future wife, James Fitzgerald, the twentieth Earl, had lived almost all his life in Ireland. Unlike many, more recently settled Protestants, he had no English title, and was unable to pursue his political interests through a seat in the English House of Lords. In Ireland though, Fitzgerald or Geraldine -- power and prestige were immense. The twentieth Earl had estates of getting on for fifty thousand acres and an annual income of around fifteen thousand pounds. He commanded a sizeable block of MPs in the Irish House of Commons and carried on the family tradition of symbolic opposition to Westminster and the surrogates of the British Crown who ruled Ireland from Dublin Castle.

Ireland existed almost as a state within the British state in the eighteenth century. Ultimate authority for Irish legislation was vested in the British parliament in Westminster, and executive power rested with a viceroy who was nominally appointed by the British monarch. But the Irish executive -- the cabinet and other office holders -- was usually home-grown, and the viceroy could not govern effectively without its compliance and the support of the Irish parliament. So, while maintaining their loyalty to the British Crown and the Anglican Church, Irish parliamentarians used their considerable powers in the jealous preservation of the privileges and authority of the class they represented. The Irish opposition, to which Kildare belonged, was the group most consistently hostile to the dictates of Westminster. It constantly demanded more local control over legislation and finance without ever going so far as to compromise the Anglican grip on parliament or to claim completely independent sovereignty for Ireland.

When he married Lady Emily Lennox in 1747, Kildare had had ambitions to shine in Westminster as well as Dublin. Besides being a beauty and a minor heiress, Emily was a means to the car of the monarch George II and to the gates of Westminster. Her parents, the second Duke and Duchess of Richmond, were prominent courtiers: the Duchess was Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Caroline, the Duke Master of the Horse and a member of the cabinet. Equally important, her elder sister Caroline was married to one of the fastest-rising stars of the House of Commons, Henry Fox. To underline Kildare's political ambitions, his new father-in-law procured for him a British peerage which carried a seat in the House of Lords. A few days before his marriage, Kildare was created Viscount Leinster of Taplow and given the promise of a dukedom which was fulfilled in 1766 when he became Duke of Leinster.

This bright political future, however, came to nothing. Kildare prided himself on his upright truthfulness and on his outspoken honesty. But he was too punctilious to seize political advantage and too unsociable to cultivate the loyalty of potential supporters. He hated to drink to excess, disliked convivial entertaining and had no gift for bonhomie. Refusing to participate in the intrigue and spectacle of the political process on either side of the Irish Sea, he was easily sidelined by those like his brother-in-law who regarded Irish concerns as entirely peripheral to the great affairs of state. Kildare soon gave up his English political ambitions, concentrating on Dublin instead. In the opinion of Castle officials his aim was now the Lord Lieutenancy itself. Balked of that prize, he contented himself with making occasional forays into Dublin politics, socially upstaging a series of English viceroys who could never match his receptions for splendour or pomp, and cultivating his lands.

Carton's undulating park and huge estates were destined for Lord Edward's eldest brother, George. His own choices would be few. In Ireland, younger sons did not go into the Church and make a bridge between the local population and the families that ruled it. They left for estates of their own or for the armed forces. Lord Edward's destiny was always clear. After a spell in one of the services, preferably in a largely inactive regiment based close to home, he would be offered one of his father's estates to cultivate. If the land did not suit him, and he proved of an intellectual or combative turn of mind, he might practise at the Irish bar. None the less, his purpose in life would be primarily dynastic: to be returned to the Irish parliament for one of the seats under family control and to marry an Irish heiress whose money and connections would help maintain the Kildares' position as Ireland's pre-eminent family.

Copyright 1997 Stella Tillyard

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374123837
• ISBN 13: 9780374123833
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 337