Thomas Smyth (1740 – 14 January 1785) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

politician.

Life

He was

Mayor of Limerick The office of Mayor of the City and County of Limerick is currently the title used by the chairperson of Limerick City and County Council. Prior to the establishment of the council, the Mayor of Limerick was the chairperson of Limerick City Counc ...

twice (in 1764 and 1776) and Member of Parliament for

Limerick City Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 c ...

from 1776 until his death. He was appointed

High Sheriff of County Limerick The High Sheriff of Limerick was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Limerick, Ireland from the 13th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Limerick County Sheriff. ...

for 1770. He was also Colonel of the Limerick Militia. He was succeeded in the constituency and in militia by his brother John Prendergast Smyth. John had also inherited the estates of their uncle,

Sir Thomas Prendergast, 2nd Baronet Sir Thomas Prendergast, 2nd Baronet (1702-died 23 September 1760) was an Irish politician. His career was helped by influential family connections, but apparently hampered by his own lack of ability. To Jonathan Swift, who detested him, he was "N ...

, even though Thomas was the oldest son. John was later ennobled as the first

Viscount Gort Viscount Gort is the title of two peerages in British and Irish history. Gort is a small town in County Galway in the West of Ireland. The original title was in the Peerage of Ireland and is extant. A viscountcy with the same title as the Irish p ...

Family

Smyth was the eldest son of Charles Smyth, MP for Limerick City, and Elizabeth Prendergast. His paternal grandparents were Thomas Smyth,

Bishop of Limerick The Bishop of Limerick is an episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Limerick in the Province of Munster, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it still continues as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been uni ...

, and Dorothea Burgh (daughter of

Ulysses Burgh Ulysses Burgh (; ; 1632–1692) was an Irish Anglican cleric who was Dean of Emly (1685–1692) and Bishop of Ardagh (1692).“A New History of Ireland” Moody,T.W; Martin,F.X; Byrne,F.J;Cosgrove,A: Oxford, OUP, 1976 Life Burgh was born at ...

), and his paternal uncles included the lawyer George Smyth and

Arthur Smyth Arthur Smyth (19 February 1706 – 14 December 1771) was Archbishop of Dublin from 1766 until his death in 1771.Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1986). ''Handbook of British Chronology'' (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univer ...

Archbishop of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin is an archepiscopal title which takes its name after Dublin, Ireland. Since the Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church and the other in the Church of Irelan ...

. His maternal grandparents were

Sir Thomas Prendergast, 1st Baronet Brigadier-General Sir Thomas Prendergast, 1st Baronet ( 1660 – 11 September 1709) was an Irish politician and soldier. Early life He was the son of Thomas Prendergast (d. 1725) of Croane, County Limerick, a small Catholic landowner, and Eleano ...

, who was killed in action at the

Battle of Malplaquet The Battle of Malplaquet took place on 11 September 1709 during the War of the Spanish Succession and was fought between a French army commanded by the Duke of Villars and a Grand Alliance force under the Duke of Marlborough. In one of the blo ...

in 1709, and Penelope Cadogan, sister of

William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan William Cadogan (-1726), 1st Earl Cadogan, an Irish-born British Army officer, began his active military service during the Williamite War in Ireland in 1689 and ended it with the suppression of the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion. A close associate an ...

. Smyth died unmarried at

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

, but fathered four children, all of whom bore the surname Stuart, including the

Indian army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

officer Charles "Hindoo" Stuart.

Life

Family

Further reading