Fitzgerald, Edward (1809–1883)

English poet and translator. His poetic version of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám (1859) (and often revised), with its resonant and melancholy tone, is generally considered more an original creation than a true translation. It is known throughout all the English-speaking countries and has passed through innumerable editions.

His earlier works include Euphranor, a Dialogue on Youth, published anonymously in 1851, Polonius, a Collection of Wise Saws and Modern Instances (1852), and a free translation of Six Dramas of Calderón (1853).

Fitzgerald was born at Bradfield House, Suffolk. He went to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1826, and there made lifelong friendships with a group which included the Tennysons, William Thackeray, and James Spedding. He then settled in Woodbridge, Suffolk, where he lived a life of quiet study and retirement.

Fitzgerald, Edward (1763–1798)

Irish nationalist politician. As a member of the Society of United Irishmen, he played a leading part in the abortive Irish Rebellion of 1798. The plot was betrayed and Fitzgerald, with a price of £1,000 on his head, sustained a fatal wound while being arrested in Dublin.

Fitzgerald was born in Carton House, County Kildare, a younger son of the 1st Duke of Leinster. He joined the British army and served in New Brunswick, Canada, during the American Revolution (1775–83). At the end of the war, though retaining his army commission, he was elected to represent Athy in the Irish parliament. Increasingly drawn to radical politics, Fitzgerald went to Paris in 1792 to experience the French Revolution at first hand. He was dismissed from the army for attending a political rally there, and also renounced his aristocratic title. After joining the United Irishmen in 1796, he and his fellow patriot Wolfe Tone secured the help of a small French invasion force to launch the 1798 rebellion.