Fitzgerald was born at Purley House in Berkshire, but was brought up at Shalstone Manor, Bucks – his mother – Sarah Anne Elizabeth Purefoy Jervoise' family home.

[1] As a right-handed batsman and a round-arm right-arm fast bowler, he represented Cambridge University, MCC, Middlesex, in 46 first-class matches between 1854 and 1874.

Lord Harris wrote of him: "Whether it was the magnificence of his swagger, the luxuriance of his beard, the fun that rolled out of him so easily, or the power of his swiping, I do not know, but as regards each he could not escape notice."

Fitzgerald also wrote a humorous book titled Jerks in from Short Leg 1published in 1865 and contributed to numerous cricketing publications including Bell's Life between 1859 – 1874.

In his autobiography Bar, Bat and Bit, Leigh wrote: "It was, I think, a fortunate thing for the Club and for the cricketing world generally when he (Fitzgerald) became secretary, for a new era seems to have dawned at Lord's with his arrival, and all the vast improvements which took place there owed their origin, inception, and development to his fertile brain and his untiring energy".