"Capt" J J Fitzgerald

[corisande]

I have spent years trying to finding out who J J Fitzgerald was. There is a full write up here of my research

My interest is that he lived a few doors away from my grandparents in Dublin, and it was the "final straw" that pushed them to move to Belfast. My grandfather had served in Royal Dublin Fusiliers and was concerned for his own safety and that of his family.

In essence a Capt John Joseph Fitzgerald was shot as one of the "Cairo Gang" murders in November 1921 in Dublin. But nobody has ever claimed responsibility and there seems to be a strong possibility that he was the wrong man.

Official reports say Captain Fitzgerald had been living in the house for about a month. He was an ex-military officer, and had served as a barrack defence officer in the RIC in Co. Clare. Whilst on that duty he had been kidnapped. He was placed against a wall and shot with his own revolver, but he was not badly injured, and dropped to the ground pretending to be dead. He was then able to take the opportunity to escape by climbing over a wall.

He had gone to Dublin to have his arm wounds attended to in a Dublin hospital. He was only a few days out of hospital and still confined to bed when he was assassinated. He was the son of a Tipperary doctor, Dr Fitzgerald, a poor law dispensary Medical Officer at Cappawhite (a Dr Joseph Fitzgerald was president of the athletics branch of the GAA in Cappawhite from 1895 to 1909). He had spent several years as a prisoner of war in Germany according to Irish Times report on 24 November.

Captain Fitzgerald (The Irish Times refers to him as "Captain" in all their reports) RIC, was buried at noon on Wednesday 24th November 1920. A guard of honour was provided by the RIC. The funeral procession went from King George V Hospital, passing through lines of RIC and Auxiliary Police along Western Avenue to Glasnevin Cemetery. It was led by the band of the RIC with muffled guns.

One can follow the Fitzgerald family of Cappawhite for some years. His father was a doctor at Cappawhite, and he resigned his medical post Feb 1924 and died March 1924. From Irish Times entries one finds various of the family mentioned

* A reading of articles by both sides fails to reveal any perpetrators. Most of the murders have the names given by the Irish side after independence, but not Fitzgeralds. One wonders why.

* Irish reports sometimes refer to him as "alias Fitzpatrick".

* Who did the assassins actually ask when they entered Earlsfort Terrace. For "Mr", "Captain" or "Colonel" and was it "Fitzgerald" or "Fitzpatrick".

* The rank of "Captain" cannot be explained or substantiated. He certainly was a sergeant in the RIC. Was he really a Captain in the British Army.

* One report refers to him being a POW in Germany for a number of years. As he was born in 1898, he would have only been 20 when the war ended, and the implication is that he would have been around 18 or younger when captured. Unlikely to have been a Captain. And I can find nothing in Behind the Wire data base that might fit (one Capt Fitzgerald without a regiment)

* There were no army mourners at his funeral, odd for a man with a "distinguished" war record.

* He was a Catholic.

* There is no obituary from his family in local Tipperary papers. Perhaps unsurprisingly they kept a low profile over this shooting.

1917 Lt J Fitzgerald, the 2nd son of Dr Joseph Fitzgerald of Cappawhite, was reported missing since 5 Oct 1917. He was 17.5 years old, and had joined the Royal Irish Regiment at the age of 16.5, and was wounded on the Somme. In Feb 1917 he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. No more is said of this, so it could be our man and he could have ended up being captured. It does not however tie up with a birth in March 1898.

The Cairo Gang murders are strange. Nobody on the Army side wants to admit that they got the right man, nobody on the IRA side wants to admit that they could have shot the wrong man.

So anybody like to cast any more light on J J Fitzgerald. Maybe it was an alias all the time, but the Cappawhite Fitzgeralds are certainly real.

[corisande]

1917 Lt J Fitzgerald, the 2nd son of Dr Joseph Fitzgerald of Cappawhite, was reported missing since 5 Oct 1917. He was 17.5 years old, and had joined the Royal Irish Regiment at the age of 16.5, and was wounded on the Somme. In Feb 1917 he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. No more is said of this, so it could be our man and he could have ended up being captured. It does not however tie up with a birth in March 1898.

I should add that I had not looked up the Medal Cards, whicj I have now done and I find that Lt John Joseph Fitzgerald is this man. But does not tell me if he was ever a POW. his rank was 2nd Lt in RIR and Lt in RFC

[kildaremark]

1911 Census for Cappagh gives:

Joseph Fitzgerald Age 52

May Fitzgerald Age 20

Edward Fitzgerald Age 10

Joseph Fitzgerald Age 7

Agnes Fitzgerald Age 3

Having trouble loading the actual return at the moment - pdfs not opening on the PC but here's the link to the details.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/page...te_Town/829950/

Mark

[corisande]

1911 Census for Cappagh gives:

Mark

Thanks for that link. I got through to the original with it. That is certainly his father.

The Cappagh family referred to in the reports after the murder is certainly this family. And it is his father that turns up for the funeral. I don't think that even Special Branch could have fixed it!

That leads me to conclude that the man shot was John Joseph Fitzgerald, 2nd Lt in RIR, later Lt in RFC, who goes on to join RIC as a sergeant (though there is no record that I can find on RIC files).

I am still in the dark as to whether he was a POW There was this Great War Forum thread suggesting that POW may have been recruited for "dirty work" in Ireland. But nothing came out of the thread that I could take any further.

[kildaremark]

There is a John Fitzgerald aged 14 in Rockwell College in the 1911 census:-

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/page...ockwell/815876/

I wonder is that the son - maybe a bit young.

There is a John Joseph Fitzgerald born in North Tipp in 1896 - could be him.

http://tipperarynorth.brsgenealogy.com

Edit: Check Tipp South not Tipp North (Cappagh is in South Tipp!) - There are also two John Joseph Fitzgeralds born in South Tipp in 1896 and 1898!

Mark

[corisande]

There is a John Joseph Fitzgerald born in North Tipp in 1896 - could be him.

Mark

Thanks, I will try to tie down his DOB. I should be able to do that.

I have made some progress now with his military career

The medal card established that John Joseph Fitzgerald did serve in RFC during the war. There is a reference to 2nd Lt John Joseph Fitzgerald in 5 Reserve Squadron in Warwickshire from 25/5/1917 to 18/6/1917.

With 60 Sqn RFC, 2/Lt. J J Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald had engine failure in his machine on 5 October 1917 which forced him to land in enemy territory where the machine was captured intact by the Germans. It was RAF SE5a B507/”A”, (Vickers built)

So he does appear to have ditched behind German lines

[Carmania]

Jim Herlihy's 'The Royal Irish Constabulary' has his date of birth as 15th March 1898 and also gives a LDS microfilm reference of 2093/060B.

Aled

[liverpool annie]

This doesn't tell you any more than what you already know ... but I found this on a Japanese model aeroplane site !! .... I thought that was interesting !!

RAF SE5a B507 / "A" (Vickers-built), No.60 Sqn RFC, 2/Lt. JJ Fitzgerald, France, October 1917.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=e...fari%26rls%3Den

[corisande]

Jim Herlihy's 'The Royal Irish Constabulary' has his date of birth as 15th March 1898 and also gives a LDS microfilm reference of 2093/060B.

Aled

Aled

Thanks,

Yes I see I already had a DOB of that, and I have confirmed it just now on Irish GRO . A John Joseph Fitzgerald birth registration was made in Tipperary Reg District Apr - Jun 1898 which should be him

[corisande]

This doesn't tell you any more than what you already know ... but I found this on a Japanese model aeroplane site !! .... I thought that was interesting !!

RAF SE5a B507 / "A" (Vickers-built), No.60 Sqn RFC, 2/Lt. JJ Fitzgerald, France, October 1917.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=e...fari%26rls%3Den

As you say "interesting" - made me smile, too

I got my references from "J J Fitzgerald" and RFC on Bing.com, that I do not usually use. It actually gave many more references than Google. Shows you that you can never search in too many corners!

[liverpool annie]

I found this snippet *

5 Oct 17 2/Lt. J.J. Fitzgerald of 60 Sqn. RFC lands his S.E. 5a #B.507 on the airfield of Jasta 18 at Harlebeke and is taken POW.

http://www.forumeerstewereldoorlog.nl/view...847cb4d8e7df88d

And a little bit more ( not that I understand a word of it !! ) ... but I wonder if this was him ??

On 5 October 1917, an S.E.5a B'507 landed intake at Harlebeke Airfield, home of Jasta 18. It presented Idflieg with a complete flyable aircraft. Udflieg in their study of this machine had found the engine was smaller, lighter and produced more horse power than anything they had. Idflieg asked for offer to produce a comparable engine. Those that responded with V-8s were; Argus with the 225 Ps As.IV. Benz with the 195 Ps BzIIIbo,without gearing; 200 Ps BzIIIbm, 200 Ps BzIIIbv and the 200 Ps BzIIIbu. These three engine had reduction gearing. The horse power was developed at 1800 engine rpm and the propeller rpm was 1180. These mimic the French gearing on the Hispano Suiza 8Ba engine. Daimler with the Mercedes 185 Ps D.IIIb, Korting with the 185 Ps KgIII engine and Oberursel with 220 U.IV engine.

In early 1918, the aircraft designers began to design aircraft to use these engines

.

[corisande]

I found this snippet *

5 Oct 17 2/Lt. J.J. Fitzgerald of 60 Sqn. RFC lands his S.E. 5a #B.507 on the airfield of Jasta 18 at Harlebeke and is taken POW.

http://www.forumeerstewereldoorlog.nl/view...847cb4d8e7df88d

And a little bit more ( not that I understand a word of it !! ) ... but I wonder if this was him ??

.

Thanks, that is really interesting. I am certain that it is him, I already had from an Irish newspaper that J Fitzgerald, 2nd son of 2nd son of Dr Joseph Fitzgerald of Cappawhite, was reported missing since 5 Oct 1917. Dates tie. Its quite amazing what information is out there on the web!

So now I know he definitely was a POW. But he is not on the Behind the Wire , which is not necessarily complete.

So the gap is between taken prisoner and turning up in the RIC.

[corisande]

Found him now in 60 Squadron history, repatriated 18 Dec 1818.

It does not say anything about where he was a POW.

[liverpool annie]

I found this ... but this wasn't November 1921 !! and the age is wrong !!

Sgt. John J. Fitzgerald, of the Royal Irish Constabulary, also known as "Captain Fitzgerald" or "Captain Fitzpatrick", whose father was from County Tipperary, was shot and killed at 28 Earlsfort Terrace. He had survived a previous assassination attempt when the bullet only grazed his head. This time he was shot twice in the head. The documents found in his house detailed the movements of senior IRA members.

Const John Fitzgerald

Died 4 July 1921, aged 18

Shot and fatally wounded when attacked while off duty unarmed.

http://www.policememorial.org.uk/Forces/IRELAND/RIC_Roll.htm

[corisande]

I found this ... but this wasn't November 1921 !! and the age is wrong !!

Const John Fitzgerald

Died 4 July 1921, aged 18

Shot and fatally wounded when attacked while off duty unarmed.

http://www.policememorial.org.uk/Forces/IRELAND/RIC_Roll.htm

That police site does have 2 J Fitzgeralds, the second one is my man:-

"Sgt John J. Fitzgerald

Died 21 November 1920, aged 22

Shot dead by an IRA assassination squad having previously escaped"

[IPT]

I don't trust him.

I think he deliberately gave the Germans the plane, and was involved in intrigue between the Germans and Sinn Fein.

I can't say any more because i'm a secret agent.

[liverpool annie]

If he was part of the Cairo Gang .... he's probably one of the men on this photo ....

The Cairo Gang was a group of British Intelligence agents who were sent to Dublin during the Anglo-Irish War to conduct intelligence operations against prominent members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Twelve people including British Army officers, Royal Irish Constabulary officers and a civilian informant were assassinated on the morning of 21 November 1920 by the IRA

The numbers refer to the names on the back, where Nos 1, 2 and 3 are marked as being Irish ( wonder what the names are ? )

Some Irish historians dispute assertions of a common history of service in the Middle East as the reason for the unit's nom de guerre. It has been suggested that they were called the "Cairo Gang" because they often held meetings at the Cairo Cafe in Dublin

[corisande]

If he was part of the Cairo Gang .... he's probably one of the men on this photo ....

I have seen that photo before, but I have never managed to find the names to who the numbers refer!

[liverpool annie]

If we could find a picture of him in RFC then you'd be able to compare and would know for sure !

Annie

[corisande]

If we could find a picture of him in RFC then you'd be able to compare and would know for sure !

Annie

I think the balance of probability is that even with a photo of him in RFC uniform it would be difficult to identify him with a man in the photo. And there are only 10 men, 14 were shot.

One of the odd things about the photo is that nobody appears to have ever identified the men, and the provenance of the photo is murky. In other words if I want a photo of the Cairo Gang, I use that photo, but nobody says where it came from. It would seem very unlikely that a group of 10 undercover spies would pose for a photo - but there is no telling the minds of the military at that time!

[corisande]

I have put up a question about his RFC career on the specialist Airmen section of the forum. I am out of my depth with RFC stuff

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...howtopic=133393

[liverpool annie]

Good idea !

[corisande]

Good idea !

Somebody might even come up with a photo

[auchonvillerssomme]

He is in List of Officers taken prisoner - Repatriated 17/12/1918.

Interestingly on the note in The Sky Thier Battlefield, the entry mentions the aircraft was captured - I wonder if that went against the pilot?

[auchonvillerssomme]

Heres the entry from Abbott's 'Police Casualties in Ireland'