Lieutenant John Charles Henry FITZGIBBON — 8th Hussars

Birth & early life

Born at Reading, Berkshire, on the 2nd of May 1829, the son of Richard Hobart Fitzgibbon, future 3rd Earl of Clare, and his wife, Diana, the daughter of Charles Bridge Woodcock, of Brentford Butts, Middlesex. He had three older sisters and an (elder) brother.

Although he inherited his father's title, he was in fact his father's second son. See the explanation here...

His father had inherited the title on the death of the 2nd Earl Clare, his elder brother John ? Fitzgibbon — 2nd Earl of Clare [uncle] in 1851.

This John Fitzgibbon [i.e. Lieutenant Fitzgibbon's uncle] was active in the House of Lords, a Privy Councillor, Governor of Bombay (1830-1834?5?), (?Deputy) Lord-Lieutenant of the County of Limerick and Lord Lieutenant of the City of Limerick. In 1826 he married Elizabeth Julia Georgiana, daughter of Peter Burrell, 1st Baron Gwydir, but died without issue.

With the title came came a house and remarkable estate, Mountshannon, near Limerick.

Lieutenant Fitzgibbon's grandfather was John Fitzgibbon, 1st Earl of Clare, Lord High Chancellor of Ireland. His father had been Roman Catholic but converted to Anglicanism, apparently to allow him to practise as a lawyer.[PB: JF was widely known as "Black Jack" — some say for his complexion, but rather more for his heart. His support for the Act of Union would have profound consequences for his grandson.].

Curiously, another Limerick man with the same name, and in the same regiment, also died in the Charge. This was 1091, Private John Fitzgibbon, 8th Hussars.

This looks like an early reference to Fitzgibbon, who would then have been just 21 years of age. Is it indeed he? Is this an attempt to become an MP? Outcome?

London Standard, Thursday 18 September 1851:

"Viscount Fitzgibbon, son of the Earl of Clare, will offer himself for the county of Limerick. We believe the noble lord is in favour of protection, but on matters of general policy a Whig."

[PB: Is this John Charles Henry, or his father, Richard Hobart?]

Shortly after, in Freeman's Journal, Thursday 29 December 1853:

FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE

The Earl of Clare, Viscount Fitzgibbon and suite have left the Gresham Hotel for London.

Service

Cornet in the 8th Hussars: 13th of March 1850.

1851 Census

Cavalry Barracks, Steyning, New Shoreham, Sussex.

John Fitzgibbon, aged 21, unmarried, officer, Cornet, born Reading, Berkshire.

[CP]

Lieutenant, 8th Hussars: 27th of June 1851.

Death

Missing in action at Balaklava. However, his body was never found, which gave rise to much controversy (see below).

His next-of-kin was shown as his father: The Earl of Clare, Hill Street, London.

His brother-in-law, Francis William Henry Cavendish (1820 — 1893), who worked in the Foreign Office, recorded in some detail in his diary the ferment surrounding the war in the Crimea, including the family's fears for Fitzgibbon. The following is the barest outline:

January 22nd [1853]: Our Army is to be increased by twenty thousand men in view of Eastern complications between France, Russia, and Turkey.

March 22nd: The news from Turkey is very disquieting, and the Holy Places dispute is becoming very serious...

June 11th: Bets were being freely made at Lady Palmerston's party to-night as to whether our troops will march to the proposed camp at Chobham or embark for the Mediterranean...

July 16th: I went down to the camp at Chobham, and spent the day with Lord FitzGibbon and the 8th Hussars.

July 27th: By riding down to Virginia Water I saw the whole Chobham force cross the Thames by a pontoon bridge constructed at Runnymede.

One of the guns, through bad driving, fell over into the water, and the men and horses were nearly drowned...

August 24th [1854]: I left London for a three weeks visit to Lord and Lady Clare [Lieutenant Fitzgibbon's parents] at Mount Shannon, County Limerick, and was introduced to the exquisite scenery of Killarney.

November 2nd: There are rumours there was a battle in the Crimea on October 25th.

Great complaints are everywhere made about the time it takes to get news from the seat of war.

It is astonishing that a line of couriers between Varna and London has not been established by us long ago, for all authentic news now comes by the Mediterranean, where it has to contend with wind and waves...

November 4th: On October 25th the Russians attacked Balaklava, the Turks fled from their redoubts (which were too far out, and therefore untenable) and lost guns, but the 93rd Highlanders stood their ground and drove off the enemy.

There were two cavalry fights, in one of which our Heavy Brigade defeated a column of Russian cavalry, but in the other the Light Brigade, although they rode through and through the Russians, was very severely handled, losing 550 men out of 700!

November 5th: I dined to-night with Lord and Lady Wodehouse, and she is in much distress lest anything may have happened to her only brother, Viscount FitzGibbon of the 8th Hussars, who are in the Light Brigade.

November 12th: In the list of the 'killed' at Balaklava, FitzGibbon's name appears with 'doubtful' against it.

Fitzgibbon's death was first announced publicly in Britain more than a fortnight after the Charge, and still not confirmed: "8th Hussars — Lieut. J. C. Viscount Fitzgibbon, killed (doubtful)".

(Click on image to enlarge)

General Z. writes :

"The charge of the Light Cavalry appears to have been the rashest of the sort that ever was committed, a useless display of animal courage, and a total absence of circumspection far beyond what might have been expected in a Cornet of six months' standing.

I am provoked, more than I can find words to describe, at the lavish destruction of those beautiful regiments."

November 15th: Phillips, of the 8th Hussars, writes that FitzGibbon went through the charge all right, killing four Russians with his revolver, but when the 8th retired he was shot in the left side by a cannonball, and when Phillips last saw him he was lying on the ground, leaning on his right arm and looking very bad.

FitzGibbon is not amongst the prisoners, so we fear he must have been killed..."

Brief announcements, more or less standard wording:

For example, Dublin Evening Mail, Wednesday 15 November 1854:

We are sorry to observe the name of Viscount Fitzgibbon (8th Hussars) among the list of "killed" the attack on heights of Balaklava, on the 25th ult. Lord Fitzgibbon's father, the present Earl of Clare, served in the army for many years, and was present at the battles of Talavera, Oporto, &c.

Followed by items concerning the grief of his family:

Dublin Evening Mail — Monday 20 November 1854

Thursday, the Earl and Countess of Clare, and Lady Elinor Fitzgibbon and suite, left Mountshannon for London. There very great sympathy expressed in all circles with the affliction of this noble family for Viscount Fitzgibbon.

How did he die?

Many stories began to circulate regarding the manner of his (supposed) death, and eye-witness accounts varied.

From an unknown writer who had participated in the Charge:

"I next heard a very deep "Oh!" — uttered in something between a groan and a shriek, and I saw it was Lord Fitzgibbon who had been struck by a bullet."

In a letter to his wife, Edward Seagar wrote: "Poor Fitzgibbon was shot through the body and fell. He was supposed to be dead".

Yet another: "He was struck by a piece of shell."

The Regimental History states that "he was struck with grape, which also wounded his horse, and he was never seen again."

[PB: I made myself a note but I'm not sure now what it means: "Also quote Robert Nichol, from much later...also 1153 William Fulton.]

From 468, Private Anthony Sheridan's account:

"It was a melancholy sight to see our poor fellows lying dead and dying all around us. I saw Lord Fitzgibbon, who was mortally wounded, pull out his purse and offer it to any one of us who would dismount and accept it, as his lordship did not like it to get into the hands of the Russians; but, lor! we did not think of money at such a moment as that. Life and honour were more precious to us than money, so I suppose the Russians got the English gold after all."

Anonymous [possibly 8th Hussars, since this was Phillips's regiment?]:

"Just before opening out, and getting into the guns, my right-hand comrade, Denis Andrea [PB: Who he?], was shot in the head by one of the thousand grape-shot singing about our ears, and he sank on his saddle-bow, his charger still going with us. As his spur happened to be tickling the flank of Mr. Phillips's charger, the brute kicked furiously out and nearly caught me, but my horse, who might have been lamed, escaped, for we then 'opened out' as Denis fell, and his horse went down.

I next heard a deep 'oh!' uttered in something between a groan and a shriek, and I saw it was Lord Fitzgibbon who had been struck with a bullet, and then more smoke and more fire, and ball, bullet, and shell, in myriads from the front and flank batteries, from riflemen and infantry, poured thickly upon us, but the great battery did no more, at least for a while."

[Source: This anon. account is included in Anthony Dawson's Letters..., p.?, and referenced by Terry Brighton as "Anonymous (Private), 'The Charge of the Light Brigade by one who was in it', United Services Journal, April 1856. Although anonymous, this man was known to and vouched for by the editor of the highly respected United Services Journal."

Poor Fitzgibbon had the troop next [to] mine, when suddenly I heard him cry out and put his hand to his breast. He must have been severely wounded, but as we cannot go over the field, nothing has been heard of him. I fear he is dead. He was last seen leaning on his arm, looking very bad.

[Source: Letter from Lieutenant Edward Phillips, 8th Hussars, to his father, 27th October 1854, Crimean Cavalry Letters, ed. Glen Fisher, Army Records Society, 2011, p.256.]

Fanny Duberly:

I rode up trembling, for now the excitement was over. My nerves began to shake, and I had been, although almost unconsciously, very ill myself all day. Past the scene of the morning we rode slowly; round us were dead and dying horses, numberless; and near me lay a Russian soldier, very still, upon his face. In a vineyard a little to my right a Turkish soldier was also stretched out dead. The horses, mostly dead, were all unsaddled, and the attitudes of some betokened extreme: pain. One poor cream-colour, with a bullet through his flank, lay dying, so patiently!

Colonel Shewell came up to me, looking hushed, and conscious of having fought like a brave and gallant soldier, and of having earned his laurels well. Many had a sad tale to tell. All had been struck with the exception of Colonel Shewell, either themselves or their horses. Poor Lord Fitzgibbon was dead. Of Captain Lockwood no tidings had been heard; none had seen him fall, and none had seen him since the action. Mr. Clutterbuck was wounded in the foot; Mr. Seager in the hand. Captain Tomkinson's horse had been shot under him; Major De Salis's horse wounded. Mr. Mussenden showed me a grape-shot which had "killed my poor mare." Mr. Clowes was a prisoner. Poor Captain Goad, of the 13th, is dead. Ah, what a catalogue!"

1004 Thomas Morley, 17th Lancers, wrote of possibly finding Fitzgibbon's body in 1855:

"After Inkerman there was a big snow storm and snow lay on the ground all winter. The Balaklava battleground was within the Russian lines. Toward spring the Russian army fell back. As the snow melted off I went out very early one morning and walked over the ground. I saw an officer's sword, very rusty from lying out all winter, and picked it up. I have it now. The Russians had pretended to bury the dead, but they only threw dirt over them, and the rains had washed out a good many bodies. I saw an officer's body in the uniform of the Eighth Hussars, and believe it was Lord Fitzgibbons. I could see the tarnished gold lace on the uniform. When the field was taken charge of by the English some of these uncovered remains were taken up and sent home."

[Source: CHECK Washington Post, 24 June 1894: p 19, "Survivor of the 600: Thomas Morley Was in the Charge of the Light Brigade". DJA comments: "This identification of Fitzgibbon's body is plausible because no other 8th Hussars officer was reported killed." (Nolan at Balaklava : Part VI : Examining Corporal Thomas Morley and the 'Threes right!' Order during the Charge of the Light Brigade, email to CrimeanWar group 7.7.16.).]

Much later (1877), when it was widely believed that Fitzgibbon had survived and was now returning to Britain, 1153 William Fulton wrote in the Dundee Courier, 22 October 1877:

THE FATE OF VISCOUNT FITZGIBBON

A few days ago we printed a singular rumour that tho late Viscount Fitzgibbon, that gallant cavalry officer who was supposed to have fallen in the celebrated charge of the Six Hundred at Balaclava, did not meet tho fate which was really believed, but, on the contrary, he is having completed a term of exile in Siberia. In reference to this report a Dublin newspaper [PB: which?] has received the following:

"Sir, — I observe from the newspapers a statement to the effect that Viscount Fitzgibbon, the only son of the Earl of Clare, a lieutenant in C troop of the Bth Hussars, and one of the Six Hundred who took part in the Balaclava charge, is now returning from Siberia.

It may interest your readers to know that I can prove that Lord Fitzgibbon was one of the Six Hundred, and was shot alongside of me, and was never heard of afterwards.

I recollect that the morning morning before the Balaclava Charge he gave every man of his troop a pound of tobacco.

Just before going into action I happened to go in front of the line some distance, when Lieutenant Fitzgibbon and Sergeant-Major Maclure were sent by Colonel Sewell to bring me back, as he thought I was in danger.

On going into the charge, Denis Haneran of C troop [ 939 Sergeant Denis Hanrahan, 8th Hussars], was shot on my right, and fell over his horse, his left spur striking the horse of Lord Fitzgibbon, and making it rear heavily. I was forced into the second rank, and almost immediately afterwards Lord Fitzgibbon was shot....

Prisoner of the Russians?

But it was also rumoured that he had not died but had been taken prisoner.

Some papers were outraged that he was being held...in appalling conditions...urged action by the Government...

Escape from Siberia

It was even suggested later that he had been sent to Siberia, from which he eventually escaped, and had either returned home, or was still living in Asia.

Was he Kipling's "Man Who Was"?

After hearing about one of these alleged sightings, in India, Rudyard Kipling is said to have created "The Man Who Was". This story first appeared in Macmillan's Magazine and Harper's Weekly in April 1890. [The full text, with notes, can be found at http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_manwhowas1.htm(accessed 10.1.2013)]

Newspaper appeals were made for him to come forward but he never appeared. He was described as being 5' 10" tall, with a cast in his left eye, and in the habit of wearing a glass.

Campaign service

Lieutenant Fitzgibbon served the Eastern campaign of 1854, including the battles of the Alma and Balaclava. (Medal and Clasps.)

Medals

Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava and Sebastopol, and the Turkish Medal.

His name appears in a Supplementary Medal Roll which states:

"This name was included in the Regimental list for the Balaclava clasp but was inadvertently omitted for the medal and the clasp for Alma."

This was signed by both General Scarlett and Lieut. Colonel De Salis, commanding the 8th Hussars, Camp near Kadikoi, 9th September 1855.

Memorial, Stradbally Church

There is a memorial to FitzGibbon in the church at Stradbally, near Mountshannon.

Memorial to John Charles Henry Fitzgerald, Stradbally Church

(Click on image to enlarge, and to view a transcription.)

Statue, Limerick

A statue of John Fitzgibbon in the uniform of the 8th Hussars once stood on the Sarsfield (formerly called Wellesley) Bridge in Limerick. It was blown up in 1929[?]

(Click on image to enlarge)

A statue of John Fitzgibbon in the uniform of the 8th Hussars once stood on the Sarsfield (formerly called Wellesley) Bridge in Limerick. But after numerous failed attempts, it was eventually blown up in [1929?] and has since been replaced by one of 1916 [leader Tom Clarke, his wife and others in the 1916 War of Independence]. The massive original plinth on which it stood still remains.