William Vesey-Fitzgerald, 2nd Baron Fitzgerald and Vesey Personal Computer Personal Computer Federal Reserve System Federal Security Agency was an Irish statesman.
Background
Fitzgerald was the elder son of James Fitzgerald and Catherine, 1st Baroness Fitzgerald and Vesey, daughter of Reverend Henry Vesey. Fitzgerald first entered parliament in 1808 as member for Ennis (succeeding his father), a seat he held until October 1812, when he was replaced by his father, and again between January 1813 and 1818.
Education
He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford.
Career
He was implicated in the scandal involving the Duke of York and his mistress Mary Anne Clarke, but after bringing valuable evidence of the case the courts he was rewarded when he was appointed a Lord of the Irish Treasury and sworn of the Irish Privy Council in 1810. In 1812 he was admitted to the British Privy Council and made a Lord of the Treasury in England, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer and First Lord of the Irish Treasury. He held the Irish offices until they were merged with the English treasury in 1816.
In 1820 Fitzgerald was returned to Parliament for Clare, which constituency he represented until 1828.
In 1820 he was appointed Ambassador to Sweden. He tried to make the Swedish King, Charles XIV John, repay the large sums of money given to him during the Napoleonic Wars, but this was to no avail and he returned to Britain in 1823.
He served as Paymaster of the Forces under successively Lord Liverpool, George Canning and Lord Goderich between 1826 and 1828. In 1828 the Duke of Wellington appointed him President of the Board of Trade and Treasurer of the Navy.
This required him to contest the Clare constituency once again but was defeated.
However, Fitzgerald managed to get elected for Newport in 1829, and served as President of the Board of Trade and Treasurer of the Navy until February 1830, when he resigned. He briefly represented Lostwithiel in 1830 and then Ennis from 1831 until 1835. Fitzgerald succeeded his mother as second Baron Fitzgerald and Vesey in 1832.
As this was an Irish peerage it did not entitle him to a seat in the House of Lords.
However, in 1835 he was created Baron Fitzgerald, of Desmond and of Clan Gibbon in the County of Cork, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, and was able to take a seat in the House of Lords. He again held office as President of the Board of Control under Sir Robert Peel between 1841 and 1843.
Apart from his political career Fitzgerald was Lord Lieutenant of County Clare from 1831 to 1843, a trustee of the British Museum, President of the Institute of Irish Architects and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
Membership
Royal Society; 4th United Kingdom Parliament. 5th United Kingdom Parliament. 6th United Kingdom Parliament.
7th United Kingdom Parliament.
8th United Kingdom Parliament. 10th United Kingdom Parliament.