Hugh Douglas Hamilton
, Irish, 1740-1808
Title
Portrait of Lord Edward FitzGerald (1763-1798)Datec.1796-98
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
127.7 x 102 cm
Credit LinePresented, C. Fitzgerald, 4th Duke of Leinster, 1884
Object numberNGI.195
DescriptionEdward Fitzgerald (1763-98), fifth son of the 1st Duke of Leinster, distinguished himself in the British army during the American War of Independence, before he entered politics and took up the cause of Irish freedom. He joined the revolutionary group the Society of United Irishmen in 1796. He reputedly supported a massacre of Peers gathered in Dublin, and his involvement in the United Irishmen's conspiracy led to his arrest, near fatal shooting and death seventeen days later in Newgate Prison. Reverend Drennan saw this portrait when he visited Hamilton's studio in 1797.