Oswald Arthur Gerald FitzGerald was drowned on HMS Hampshire, on 5 June 1916, when it struck a mine in Scapa Flow, laid by a German submarine. He was on Lord Kitchener’s staff and he and 736 crew and passengers lost their lives. There were only 12 survivors and only two bodies were recovered. Oswald FitzGerald was one of them. His body was rested in St Matthew’s Church, Westminster where it was strewn with floral tributes before being taken to Victoria Station and railed to Eastbourne where it was transported on a gun carriage to All Saint’s Church. The Bishop officiated at the funeral and it was attended by officers, foreign delegations and his family. He was buried in Ocklynge Cemetery.
Oswald was born in India on 8 July 1875, the son of Colonel Sir Charles FitzGerald KCB. He was educated at Wellington College and went on to Sandhurst. He joined the 18th Bengal Lancers in 1898 and was appointed Adjutant on 8 April 1902. In 1904 ‘Fitz’, as he was called, was chosen to be ADC to Lord Kitchener, then became his Military Secretary in 1909. He was appointed GSO3 in Egypt and then Military Attache (GSO2) for Egypt, Sudan and Abbysinia in 1912. He was involved in a significant attempt on Kitchener’s life which he prevented.
‘Colonel FitzGerald saved the life of Lord Kitchener, Commander-in-Chief in India, in 1912. A plot to assassinate Lord Kitchener had been formed, and Colonel FitzGerald, having received information about it and having a photograph of the man who was to carry it out, was on the lookout for him, and detected him near the carriage in which Lord Kitchener was riding. Colonel FitzGerald fixed the would-be assassin with his eye, and at the same time covered Lord Kitchener, so that had the man fired, Colonel FitzGerald’s body would have received the bullet. Fortunately the man hesitated and was arrested.’
The photo shows him as a captain, wearing an undress frockcoat with his sword suspended from a gold and crimson striped lancer girdle. He has double gold lace stripes down the side of his trousers. The image is a detail from a group photo of Lord Kitchener and his staff (see below). Kitchener is on the right. Next to him is Captain W F Basset in Rifle uniform. Then Colonel Birdwood, FitzGerald, Captain N J C Livingstone-Learmouth, and Lieutenant G G E Wylly on the left.
