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Name: FITZGERALD, Thomas CMG, OBE

Birth Date: 1879 Oakport, Co. Kerry

Death Date: 8 Oct 1959 Chelsea, London

First Date: 1920

Profession: Postmaster-General of EA

Area: Nairobi

Married: 1916 Elizabeth Lyons b. 1891

Children: Desmond John Lyon (1918); Edward Eamon (1919)

Book Reference: Debrett, KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Red 22, EA & Rhodesia, Dominion, Irish, Gazette

School: Blackrock College, Dublin and King's College, London

General Information:

Debrett - was in Home Civil Service 1900-1908, and in Malaya Posts and Telegraphs Ser. 1908-20; appointed Dep. Postmaster-General Kenya 1920, Postmaster-Gen., Kenya 1922, and Postmaster-Gen. Kenya-Uganda-Tanganyika Territory Service 1933; retired 1936; a Member of Rhodesia and Nyasaland Roy. Commn. 1938, and of E. African Salaries Commn. 1947; went on special Mission to Palestine 1946; a MLC of Kenya 1921-36
EA & Rhodesia - 15/10/59 - Mr Thomas Fitzgerald, the first head of an East African Government department, has died in London at the age of 80. Educated in Dublin and at King's College, London, he entered the British Post Office as a second division clerk in 1899. In 1908 he transferred to the Malayan Post Office, and in 1920 he was appointed deputy Postmaster-General, Kenya and Uganda. Two years later he was promoted Postmaster-General, and in January 1933, he became Postmaster-General of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika, the first head of a combined East African department. Many notable changes in the Post Office in the East African territories were made during Mr Fitzgerald's terms of office, including the complete amalgamation of the Kenya and Uganda postal and telegraph services, the establishing of the Kenya radio telegraph service with the United Kingdom, the inauguration of the Kenya broadcasting service, the installation of the Nairobi automatic exchange, and the extension of the Kenya-Uganda amalgamation arrangement to Tanganyika in 1933.
He retired in 1935. Mr Fitzgerald was a member of the Rhodesia-Nyasaland Royal Commission, 1938, and after employment in the Ministry of Supply during the second world war, inquired into official salaries in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1946. Subsequently he was a member of the East African Salaries Commission, and also inquired into official salaries in the High Commission Territories in South Africa and in the Seychelles. He was awarded the CMG in 1935
Dominion - 1930 - Nominated Official member of Legco
Dominion - Public Works Department - Posts and Telegraphs Dept. - Postmaster General - 1930
Irish - President of the EA Irish Society in 1926
Gazette 11/8/1920 - Arrived on 1st Appointment - Deputy Postmaster General - 24/7/1920
KAD 1922 - Deputy Postmaster-General.
Red 25 - Postmaster General 1922 -,
Red 25 - Vice-President Kenya Civil Service Rifle Club.
Red 25 - Committee Member, REAAA
Is he a relative of Thomas Otto Fitzgerald? 

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