His parents, whose marriage was unhappy, separated a few years after his birth, and his mother took the children to England, where George was educated at Eton College.
There he hunted by torchlight, terrified his friends by keeping bears and other ferocious animals as pets, erected a fort and set the law at defiance (although he did make some effort to improve the property).
His daughter was raised by relatives in England; she died in 1794, reputedly from the shock of reading about her father's exploits, of which she had been kept in ignorance, in a magazine.
He fought many duels, perhaps thirty in all, including one with Richard Martin ("Humanity Dick") in the barrack's yard of Castlebar, in which both were wounded.
[2] FitzGerald was hanged at Castlebar on 12 June 1786 for conspiracy to murder Patrick Randall McDonnell, an attorney who had acted for his father in their legal disputes, and with whom in consequence, he had a longstanding feud.