Gerald FitzGerald, 5th Duke of Leinster explained

Gerald FitzGerald, 5th Duke of Leinster (16 August 1851 – 1 December 1893) was an Anglo-Irish peer.

Biography

Leinster was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of the 4th Duke of Leinster and Lady Caroline Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Sutherland.

He married Lady Hermione Wilhelmina Duncombe (30 March 1864 – Mentone, France, 19 March 1895), daughter of the 1st Earl of Feversham, in London on 17 January 1884. It was not a happy marriage.^[1] She died of tuberculosis at age 30.^[2]

The Leinsters had the following children:

• Unnamed daughter (born 1885 – died 5 February 1886)
• Maurice FitzGerald, 6th Duke of Leinster (1 March 1887 – 4 February 1922)
• Major Lord Desmond FitzGerald (21 September 1888 – 3 March 1916), presumed KIA in the World War I^{[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]}
• Edward FitzGerald, 7th Duke of Leinster (6 May 1892 – 8 March 1976), whose alleged biological father was Hugo Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss.^[2]

After the 5th Duke's death of typhoid fever, his stamp collection, which contained around ten thousand pieces, was bequeathed to the Dublin Museum of Science and Art. It included an Inverted Swan which he had discovered was inverted years after he took possession of it.^[9]

External links

• "DNA test the latest twist in aristocratic tale of a cowboy, a gambler and a web of deceit", Scotsman, 4 November 2010

Notes and References

1. Web site: The FitzGeralds of Carton House – a deeply dysfunctional family: The Decline and Fall of the Dukes of Leinster . Irish Times . 11 December 2022.
2. Book: Angela Lambert. Angela Lambert. Unquiet Souls. Harper & Row. 1984.
3. According to cemetery records, Lord Desmond FitzGerald is buried in Calais Southern Cemetery, Plot A, Row Officers, Grave 5
4. Web site: FitzGerald, Lord Desmond. The War Graves Photographic Project.
5. "Bomb Kills Duke's Heir: Lord Desmond Fitzgerald Was Experimenting with New Missile", The New York Times, 8 March 1916. The article states that FitzGerald "was experimenting with a new kind of bomb, when it exploded and a fragment struck him in the head. He was taken to a hospital and died an hour later"
6. Web site: Peterkin. Tom. Elsworth. Catherine. A Californian claimant, an 'escape' from the trenches and the fight for a dukedom. https://web.archive.org/web/20060627212718/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2006%2F02%2F27%2Fnlein27.xml. 27 June 2006. Daily Telegraph. 28 February 2006. 12 June 2008. dead.
7. Web site: The best DNA evidence may be hidden in Australian outback. Irish Independent. Charles Lysaght. Charles Lysaght. February 19, 2006.
8. According to the Scottish War Memorials Project, Col. Lord Desmond's death occurred thus: "Fr Lane Fox OSB was chaplain to the Irish Guards. He lost his right eye and hand in a bombing accident. He was standing by Colonel Lord Desmond Fitzgerald watching a bombing practice. The Colonel said "Now Padre, you can have a try". Fr Lane Fox took a bomb, pulled out the pin and then before the proper time the bomb exploded in his hand, destroying his right eye and hand and killing Lord Desmond Fitzgerald. He also served with the 2nd London Irish of 47th Division and was awarded the Military Cross and the French Medaille Militaire". See http://warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/warmemscot-post-42305.html
9. Arthur Ronald Butler, The British Philatelic Federation Limited, 1990, page 18.