Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Engineer. Maurice Fitzgerald, eldest son of the Rev. William Fitzgerald, Professor of Moral Philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin, later Bishop of Cork and of Killaloe, was born in Wicklow on 6 July 1850.(1) His mother, Anne Frances, was a sister of BINDON BLOOD STONEY. BINDON BLOOD STONEY. (2) He obtained the BA degree from Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied mathematics, and then served an engineering apprenticeship with Easton & Anderson of Southwark and the Erith Ironworks in Kent. He later worked for the Board of Public Works and was appointed engineer of the River Shannon improvement works in 1880.(3) Primarily a mechanical engineer, he became Professor of Civil Engineering at Queen's College, Belfast, in 1884. In 1894 he designed a pair of semi-detached houses in Belfast, Nos. 30 and 32 Eglantine Avenue, in 1894, in one of which he lived himself.(4) He retired from the professorship in 1910 and about five years later moved from Belfast to Monkstown, Co. Dublin, where he lived until his death circa 1927. According to the 1911 census returns he had married in 1894 and had an only son, William.  In accordance with provisions in the will of his widow, Anna Maria, the Maurice Fitzgerald Fund was established at Queen's University in 1956.

ICEI: delivers paper, 'On Processes and Machinery used for Compressing Peat, and of other experiments tried at Birdhill, Co. Limerick', 9 December 1874.(5)
Inst.CE: elected associate member, 5 December 1876.(6)

Addresses: 32 Eglantine Avenue, Belfast, 1894-<=1914;(7) Fairholme, Abbey Road, Monkstown, <=1916(5) until death.

See WORKS.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise attributed is from Fitzgerald's candidate's circular for associate membership (1876)  of Inst.CE (courtesy of Carol Morgan, archivist, Inst.CE) and Michael H. Gould, Civil Engineering at Queen’s, Belfast: the first 150 years. 1849-1999 (Queen’s University, Belfast, 1999), 26-29, which gives further details of Fitzgerald's tenure of the chair of civil engineering. A photograph of Fitzgerald is reproduced on the flyleaf.


(1) Clergy of Dublin and Glendalough (Ulster Historical Foundation, 2001), 625.
(2) Burke’s Irish Family Records (1976), 1058.
(3) Architect 24, 28 Aug 1880, 140.
(4) Paul Larmour, The Architectural Heritage of Malone & Stranmillis (UAHS, 1991), 62.
(5) Published in TICEI 11 (1874-1876), 1-7.
(6) Charter…By-Laws, and List of Members of the Institution of Civil Engineers (1912), 183.
(7) See note 6, above.
(8) Charter…By-Laws, and List of Members of the Institution of Civil Engineers (1914), 186.


1 work entries listed in chronological order for FITZGERALD, MAURICE FREDERICK


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Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, EGLANTINE AVENUE, NO. 030 & 32
Date: 1894
Nature: Pair of semi-detached houses, one of them for himself.
Refs: Paul Larmour, The Architectural Heritage of Malone & Stranmillis (UAHS, 1991), 62