Born 1885 in Co. Clare Ireland, son of Charles (General Labourer) and Margaret Fitzgerald. 1901: With his family at House 3, Knockdrumleague, Tulla, Co Clare. 1911: A Stores Porter at L.C.C. Claybury Hospital, boarding with William Robert Johnson (32 year old Stores Porter at Claybury Hospital) and his wife Lilian at 7 Stoneycroft Road, Woodford Bridge.
He married Gladys Billet in St Thomas of Canterbury Church during 1914, and they had two children; Grace (1916) and Charles (1917). They resided at 1 Brunel Terrace, Woodford Bridge. Gladys remarried in 1922 to Herbert G Greaves.
Fitzgerald enlisted at Woodford during 05-16, serving initially with the Norfolk Regiment, then the Worcestershire Regiment. He went to France in 05-17 to reinforce the 1/7 Battalion of that Regiment on the Somme, moving to Ypres in July. Some two months after arriving in France, he was badly wounded in the arm by a shell during operations after the Battle of Langemarck (3rd Battle of Ypres/Passchendaele). He was taken to a dugout with other wounded while the most serious cases were taken on ahead. When medical staff returned, they could find no trace of any of the remaining wounded. He was formally reported Wounded, Missing, and finally Missing Presumed Killed. He remains unaccounted for to this day.
He is also remembered at Chigwell War memorial, and the Roll of Honour in St Mary’s Church Chigwell.
A Parishioner of St Thomas of Canterbury Church (RC).
Research by Adrian Lee, Local Historian
Sources:
Ancestry.com
Irish Census 1901
Woodford Times
“Marching Off to War”