[3] FitzGerald was educated privately and was called to the bar by King's Inns in 1838.

[2] FitzGerald held the former post until 1858 and after a break for a year, again until 1860, when he was appointed Judge on the Court of Queen's Bench (Ireland).

[4] On 23 June 1882, he was created a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary with the life peerage title of Baron FitzGerald, of Kilmarnock, in the County of Dublin.

[6] Six days later, he was additionally sworn of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, entitling him to sit on the Judicial Committee.

[citation needed] The former Conservative politician Amber Rudd is his great-great-granddaughter.