{{short description|Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=September 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox military person |name= Richard Fitzgerald |birth_date=December 1831 |death_date= 1884 (aged 53) |birth_place=Cork, County Cork, Ireland |death_place= India |burial_place= |image=Victoria Cross Medal without Bar.png |image_size=125 |caption= |nickname= |allegiance= {{flagcountry|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}} |service_years= |rank=Gunner |branch=Bengal Army |commands= |unit=Bengal Horse Artillery |battles=Indian Mutiny |awards= Victoria Cross |other_work= }}
'''Richard Fitzgerald''' VC (December 1831, St. Finbar's, Cork, Ireland – 1884 in India) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross.
In Cork on 17 December 1851 he enlisted in the Bengal Horse Artillery, Bengal Army, for 12 years service, giving his trade as carpenter. He arrived in India to join his unit in November 1852.<ref name=OMRS>{{cite journal |date= September 2025|author=Glenn Fisher|title=The Richard Fitzgerald Victoria Cross |pages=167–172 |journal=Orders & Medals Research Society Journal|volume=64 |issue=3|issn=1474-3353}}</ref>
==Details== He was a 25 year old Gunner in the 2nd Troop, 3rd Brigade, Bengal Horse Artillery during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 28 September 1857 at Bolandshahr, India for which he and Sergeant Bernard Diamond were awarded the Victoria Cross:<ref name=OMRS/> {{blockquote|"For an act of valour performed in action against the rebels and mutineers at Boolundshur, on the 28th September, 1857, when these two soldiers evinced the most determined bravery in working their gun under a very heavy fire of musketry, whereby they cleared the road of the enemy, after every other man belonging to it had been either killed or disabled by wounds. (Despatch of Major Turner, Bengal Horse Artillery, dated Boolundshur, 2nd October, 1857.)"<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22131|page=2051|date=27 April 1858}}</ref>}}
In the months after his VC action, Fitzgerald took part in operations around Lucknow.<ref name=OMRS/>
Returning to the UK, he was discharged from the army at Canterbury, Kent, in June 1863<ref name=OMRS/> and appears to have died in India in 1884.
Fitzgerald's VC and Indian Mutiny Medal are currently held by Bristol Museum.<ref name=OMRS/>
==References== {{Reflist}} '''Listed in order of publication year ''' *''The Register of the Victoria Cross'' (1981, 1988 and 1997) *{{cite journal|first=Brian D. H.|last=Clarke|title=A register of awards to Irish-born officers and men|journal=The Irish Sword|volume=XVI|issue=64|pages=185–287|year=1986}} *''Ireland's VCs'' (Dept of Economic Development 1995) *''Monuments to Courage'' (David Harvey, 1999) *''Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross'' (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, Four Courts, 2000 {{ISBN|185182491X}})
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Richard}} Category:1831 births Category:1884 deaths Category:19th-century Irish military personnel Category:Bengal Artillery soldiers Category:Irish soldiers in the British East India Company Army Category:Irish Anglicans Category:Irish recipients of the Victoria Cross Category:Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross Category:Military personnel from Cork (city)