Thomas Smyth (1740 – 14 January 1785) was an Irish politician.

Life

He was

Mayor of Limerick The Mayor of Limerick is the head of the local government of the Limerick, City and County Limerick, County of Limerick. It is a directly elected office with a five-year term. Following the 2024 Limerick mayoral election, John Moran (Mayor of Li ...

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

Limerick City Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

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 – 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 "No ...

, 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 ...

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 polity, episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Limerick in the Province of Munster, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church it still continues as a sepa ...

, and Dorothea Burgh (daughter of Ulysses Burgh), 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 Unive ...

Archbishop of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin () is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: ...

. 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 Ele ...

, 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, near Taisnières-sur-Hon in modern France, then part of the Spanish Netherlands. A French army of around 75,000 men, commanded by the Duke of V ...

in 1709, and Penelope Cadogan, sister of

William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan General William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan, ( – 17 July 1726) was a British army officer, diplomat and Whig politician. He began his military career during the Williamite War in Ireland in 1689 and ended it with the suppression of the Jacobit ...

. Smyth died unmarried at

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

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

Indian army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

officer Charles "Hindoo" Stuart.

Life

Family

Further reading