Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald was an Anglo-Irish author, critic, painter, and sculptor whose prolific career spanned the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Born in County Louth, Ireland, he received his education at Belvedere College, Stonyhurst College, and Trinity College, Dublin. Although he initially pursued a legal career, being called to the Irish bar and serving as a crown prosecutor on the northeastern circuit, his passion for literature and the arts eventually drew him to London.
In London, Fitzgerald established himself as a versatile writer and journalist. He became a regular contributor to Charles Dickens's weekly journal, Household Words, and developed a close personal and professional relationship with the novelist. Fitzgerald also served as a dramatic critic for The Observer and the Whitehall Review. His literary output was immense, focusing heavily on biographies of historical and literary figures, as well as comprehensive histories of the English stage. Among his subjects were Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, David Garrick, and Charles Lamb.
In addition to his literary endeavors, Fitzgerald was a talented visual artist. He created several public sculptures, including a bust of his friend Charles Dickens for the Pump Room in Bath and a statue of Samuel Johnson located behind St Clement Danes on the Strand in London. He continued writing well into the twentieth century, publishing memoirs and reflections on his literary contemporaries before his death in 1925.
