Thomas 'Tomás Óg' FitzGerald, 22nd Knight

Thomas (Cf. Fig 10) known as Tomás Og (young Thomas) succeeded Richard. The earliest surviving reference to Thomas appears in a copy of Chronicum Scotorum (190) which was presented by him to his friend Michael (son of Peter) Langan in 1711. (191) Thomas cannot have been more than a child of four or five years of age when this presentation was made. It is clear from the colophon that this copy of Chronicurn Scotorum was used by Langan, then (1711) aged 18 years, as an 'exemplar' when the future Knight was learning to read and write. Unfortunately this manuscript, which was in the possession of the American - Irish Historical Society in New York from 1917 to shortly before 1982, has since it's return to Ireland, vanished in somewhat mysterious circumstances! (192)

Thomas was married in Co. Kerry in late December 1754 to Mary (Molly) , daughter of Rowland Bateman, J.P. of Oak Park, Tralee and his wife, Elizabeth. Mary was described in a Cork news paper of January, 1755 as 'a charming young lady with a fortune of £3,000'. However it is clear from an indenture dated 20th April, 1781 (193) that the dowry of £3,000 was greatly exaggerated in the newspapers - not unusual in the 18th century press. The dowry was apparently a more modest £1,200.(194) However this dowry was badly needed, as Thomas, like his brothers, was frequently in debt. He and his bride appear to have lived in a house at Tullyglass to the south of the present Glin demesne but then forming part of it.

Thomas had conformed, probably at the time of his marriage and certainly by 24th May 1761 when he and Richard voted in the Co. Limerick elections. Thomas was then living at Carhouna (mod. Carhoona) Parish of Kilnaughtin (Tarbert) Co. Kerry.(195) The suggestion that Thomas was a Protestant from birth, advocated by Hickson (196) seems to be without foundation. Thomas remained a Protestant until his death and also converted' to the political ascendancy of the time and became a loyal son of the establishment. When there was a threat of a French invasion of Ireland in May 1779 Thomas wrote to Edmund Sexton Pery, speaker of the House of Commons in Dublin, about the approach of what might be enemy ships' and Pery passed on this letter to Heron... 'written by the gentleman whom they call the Knight of the Glin..."

Unfortunately this letter is not now among the Heron papers in our National Library. (197) Thomas was also concerned about the welfare of his tenants and Taylor refers to his concerns (in a poem dedicated to the Knight)

Whilst every voice thy virtue loudly sing,
And Glin's stout sons with acclamation ring,
With whom, how just, your name should oft resound, We have in thee, the friend and father found,
The old, the poor, the sickly, weak and lame,
All hail their generous masters' bounteous name,
The wife, the daughter, the orphan, friendless maid, And weeping widow, feel-thy friendly aid. (198)

In late 1766 or early 1767 a Protestant discoverer from Dublin named John Foster tried to wrest his future inheritance from Thomas. (199) This attempt failed and it may have been a collusive discovery but the related deed is of interest, From it we learn that Thomas received £100 per annum from the Glin estate and he seems to have been entitled to the rents of Ballygoghlan and Farranmiller and to other benefits from the will of his elder brother John. This deed-poll mentions that Thomas is entitled also to the benefit of a Bond and Judgement for ten thou sand pounds' (200) but does not say who his benefactor was - perhaps it was his share of his mothers' estate.

Earlier Thomas had complained (in a letter of 27th July, 1759) to Stephen Creagh, of Dunmoylan, that Robert Fitzgerald, to whom he admitted owing some debts, had still not handed over to him what he was entitled to by his mothers' will. He was then (or shortly before) living at Tullyglass:

'I heard that some servants who lived with Counsellor (Robert) Fitzgerald intended attaching what loose or removable things were at Tullyglass for wages they alleged to be due to them, and for that purpose they carried the bailiff of the manor to Tullyglass House. On being confirmed of this report, and learning that the Counsellor was determined not to hold the place, I took a dresser which lay in the kitchen and an old cupboard, for which I am satisfied to pay the value! (201)

During Thomas's short time as Knight he does not appear to have made any long-term leases of his property, unlike his immediate predecessor who made several.

Thomas seems to have been, in his later life, a quiet inoffensive man who left two sons, John Bateman (Cf. Fig. 11) and Gerald (Cf. Fig. 12) who inherited Ballydonoghue and six daughters, when he died sometime 'before October 15th, 1781, either at Church Hill, Tralee, (202) or at Glin. (203)John Bateman inherited an estate of 12,000 acres(204) and it was he who, despite the debts of his father, undertook the building of Glin Castle. The fact that the Castle, albeit incomplete, was constructed and still exists today is an amazing feat considering the financial difficulties the family encountered throughout it's history.