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Sir Patrick 'Fitz' Fitzgerald (1899-1978) was a businessman known for his work for the United Africa Company (UAC) and as the first head of the Ghana National Trading Company.

Early Life
In his youth, Fitzgerald held a commission in the Irish Guards. Then, in 1923, Fitzgerald joined Tarkwa Trading Company - a subsidiary of the African & Eastern Trading Corporation - as a trading assistant.

United Africa Company
Following military service in the Second World War, he was appointed as the Assistant General Manager of the United Africa Compan y (Gold Coast) in 1945. He was promoted to become General Manager in 1946. In this role, he was involved in the Gold Coast Boycott and the Accra Riots in 1947-8. Subsequently, he was appointed as a Special Representative for the UAC in the newly formed Legislative Council.

In 1954, Fitzgerald was appointed Chairman of the newly-formed Gold Coast Ltd, a locally registered company that took over all UAC assets in the Gold Coast.

Fitzgerald was knighted in 1955 at the Queen's Birthday Honours.

Involvement in Ghanaian Politics
Fitzgerald had a generally good working relationship with Kwame Nkrumah, the Prime Minister of Ghana, appearing alongside him at public events, including the opening of Kingsway Stores at Accra. Furthermore, when Fitzgerald retired from the UAC in 1960, Nkrumah appointed him as the first head of his new state marketing enterprise, the Ghana National Trading Company. However, their relationship was not always so amicable - in 1958, Fitzgerald wrote a letter to his UAC colleague Frederick Pedler strongly criticising a donation of £5000 to Nkrumah's Convention People's Party.