Edward Fitzharris

Edward Fitzharris (1648?-1681) was an Anglo-Irish conspirator. His prosecution at the time of the Popish Plot hoax became a struggle for jurisdiction involving the courts and the two Houses of Parliament.

The younger son of Sir Edward Fitzharris (died c.1690), 2nd Baronet of the Fitzharris Baronets of Kilfinin, he was born in County Limerick, Ireland about 1648, and bought up a Roman Catholic. His father was described as an "eminent Royalist". According to his own account, he left Ireland for France in 1662 to learn the language, returning home through England in 1665. Three years later he went to Prague with the intention of entering the service of the Emperor Leopold I in his operations against Hungary. Finding that the expedition had been abandoned, he wandered through Flanders to England again. He next obtained a captain's commission in one of the companies raised by Sir George Hamilton in Ireland for Louis XIV; but on being discharged from his command soon after landing in France, he went to Paris.

Returning to England in October 1672 he received, in the following February, the lieutenancy of Captain Sydenham's company in the Duke of Albemarle's regiment, which he was forced to resign on the passing of the Test Act in 1673. For the next eight years he intrigued with influential Catholics, including the Duchess of Portsmouth.

In February 1681 he wrote a libel in which he advocated the deposition of King Charles II and the exclusion of James, Duke of York. His motives remain a mystery, particularly as his father, who was still alive, was noted for his loyalty to the Stuart dynasty. He possibly intended to place this in the house of some prominent Whig, and then, by discovering it himself, earn a reward as an informer. He was betrayed by an accomplice, Edmond Everard, and sent first to Newgate Prison, and afterwards to the Tower of London.

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