Sir Thomas Prendergast, 2nd Baronet


Sir Thomas Prendergast, 2nd Baronet was an Irish politician. To Jonathan Swift, who detested him, he was "Noisy Tom".
He was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Prendergast, 1st Baronet, and his wife Penelope Cadogan, sister of William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan. He succeeded his father in the baronetcy in 1709. He was elected to the Irish House of Commons for Clonmel and to the British House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Chichester.
His father was a Roman Catholic, but young Thomas for the sake of his career was obliged to join the Church of Ireland. Despite his nominal Protestantism he was noted for his anti-clerical views, and this earned him the enmity of Swift, who mocked him as "Noisy Tom". Swift also vilified the elder Sir Thomas, describing him as a traitor, informer and assassin. These charges have no foundation, and seem to be a garbled reference to the elder Sir Thomas's role in uncovering the Assassination Plot of 1696, which was admittedly very advantageous to the Prendergast family.
In 1754 the younger Sir Thomas was made Custos Rotulorum and Governor of County Galway. He was Postmaster General for Ireland and a member of the Privy Council of Ireland.
In 1739 he married Anne, daughter of Sir Griffith Williams, 6th Baronet of the Williams-Bulkeley baronets of Penrhyn and Catherine Anwyl, but they had no children. After Sir Thomas's death, his widow married his cousin, Terence Prendergast, causing a minor scandal. The baronetcy expired but Prendergast's estates were inherited by his nephew, John Prendergast-Smyth, 1st Viscount Gort, the son of his sister Elizabeth and her husband Charles Smyth. At the time of his death he was apparently expecting to be raised to the peerage as Viscount Clonmel.