Thomas Smyth (politician)

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

Life

He was Mayor of Limerick twice (1764 and 1776) and Member of Parliament for Limerick City from 1776 until his death. He was appointed High Sheriff of County Limerick 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, even though Thomas was the oldest son. John was later ennobled as the first Viscount Gort.

Family

He was the eldest son of Charles Smyth, Member of Parliament for Limerick City, and Elizabeth Prendergast (born 1708). His paternal grandparents were the Rt. Rev. Thomas Smyth (1650–1725), Bishop of Limerick, and Dorothea Burgh (daughter of the Rt. Reverend Ulysses Burgh, Bishop of Ardagh) and his paternal uncle was the Most Reverend Arthur Smyth (1707–1772), Archbishop of Dublin. His maternal grandparents were Brig. Sir Thomas Prendergast, 1st Baronet, who was killed in action at the Battle of Malplaquet in 1709, and Penelope Cadogan, sister of William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan.

Thomas Smyth died unmarried, but fathered four children, all of whom bore the surname Stuart, including the Indian Army officer, Major-General Charles Stuart, better known as the "Hindoo Stuart".

Further reading

• Spurrell, J. C. In Search of Thomas Smyth, Mayor of Limerick, Irish Family History, Vol. 25 (2009).