FitzMaurice was son of Maurice Fitzjohn a Totane, brother of the 12th Earl of Desmond, and Julia O'Mulryan of County Tipperary, making him nephew of James FitzGerald, Earl of Desmond and cousin of Gerald FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond.
His father had been imprisoned along with another relative, an Earl of Desmond, and his property confiscated by the English.
The title was created for the second time for James Fitzgerald – a pathetic creature of the Crown who died penniless and without issue.
James Earl Jones | Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex | Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma | Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener | Earl | Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts | Earl of Derby | Earl Warren | Earl of Pembroke | Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer | Earl of Warwick | Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford | Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby | Earl of Shrewsbury | William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham | Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester | Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick | Earl of Leicester | John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon | Desmond Child | Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex | Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester | Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer | Earl of Devon | Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig | My Name Is Earl | Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon | Earl Scruggs | Earl of March | William Desmond Taylor |
Most prominent of the Norman families in the area were the FitzGeralds (Earls of Desmond), FitzMaurices, Barrys, Barretts, and Roches.
Alexander Stephen Rudolph Feilding, 12th Earl of Denbigh, 11th Earl of Desmond (born 4 November 1970), styled Viscount Feilding until 1995, is a member of the British aristocracy and son of William Feilding, 11th Earl of Denbigh and his wife Judy nee Cooke.
Joan Fitzgerald, Countess of Ormond (c.1509 or c.1514 – 1565); daughter of James Fitzgerald, 10th Earl of Desmond