Career
The younger brother of John Fitzgerald, 4th Earl of Desmond, James was uncle to the 4th Earl"s only son Thomas Fitzgerald, 5th Earl of Desmond, whom he was able to deprive of his earldom and dispossess in 1418 for marrying far below his station. The marriage between a man of Norman ancestry and a woman of Gaelic blood was in violation of the Statutes of Kilkenny. Although not acknowledged until 1422, he was in 1420 made Seneschal of Imokilly, Inchiquin, and the town of Youghal, by James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond.
In 1423 he was made Constable of Limerick for life.
In 1445 he was excused attendance at Parliament. He was also godfather to George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence.
Dying in 1462 or 1463, Desmond was buried in Youghal.