b. 12/1831 Cork, Ireland. d. 1884 India.
Richard Fitzgerald (1831-1884) is a recipient of which sadly very little is known. What is known is that he was born in 1831 in St Finbars, Cork, Ireland, and enlisted with the Bengal Horse Artillery in December 1851. He was still in India when the Mutiny broke out in 1857.
Fitzgerald VC Bristol Museum
On 28th September 1857, during the Battle of Bulandshahr, both Richard Fitzgerald and Bernard Diamond were manning an important gun which came under very heavy enemy fire. They managed to clear the road of the enemy rebels, and they continued to man the gun despite the fact all other men on the gun had been killed or wounded.
Both men were awarded the Victoria Cross, with the citation being published on 27th April 1858. Fitzgerald was presented with his medal later that year. After the Mutiny, he transferred to the Royal Artillery as a “Local in India” and was pensioned off in 1872. He drew his pension until 1884 when, it is presumed, he died, though the actual date and place is unknown. His medals are held by the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, having narrowly survived a bombing raid in 1941.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: BRISTOL MUSEUM, BRISTOL, AVON.
BURIAL PLACE: BODY LOST – NO KNOWN GRAVE.
