Thomas Smyth

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Thomas Smyth was the eldest son of Charles Smyth (1693-1784), M.P. for Limerick, and Elizabeth Prendergast (b 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 Bt., who was killed in action at the Battle of Malplaquet in 1709, and Penelope Cadogan, sister of William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan.

He fathered four illegitimate children, perhaps thereby causing a scandal and forfeiting his right to inherit, as the eldest nephew, the estates of his uncle, Sir Thomas Prendergast, 2nd Bt. His children bore the name Stuart (perhaps this was the mother's name?) and included the Indian Army officer, Major-General Charles Stuart, better known as the "Hindoo Stuart" who features in William Dalrymple's book, White Mughals.

Thomas Smyth died unmarried on 14 January 1785. His uncle's estates were inherited by his brother John Prendergast-Smyth, who was later made the first Viscount Gort.