Fitzgerald was the son of Robert Uniacke Penrose (1800 – 11 June 1857) of Corkbeg House, County Cork.
He was educated at Westminster School and Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
He rowed at Cambridge and won the University Pairs with J. P. Ingham in 1860.
[5] He owned about 6,000 acres (2,428 ha) in County Cork and was director of the Property Defence Association and Cork Defence Union against Land League.
Uniacke-Penrose-Fitzgerald died at Westminster in 1919 on his eightieth birthday, when the baronetcy became extinct.