Sir Thomas Prendergast, 1st Baronet

Brigadier-General Sir Thomas Prendergast, 1st Baronet (c. 1660 – 11 September 1709) was an Irish politician and soldier.

He was the son of Thomas Prendergast (d. 1725) of Croane, County Limerick, and Eleanor Condor. On 15 July 1699 he was created a baronet, of Gort, in the County of Galway. On 10 August 1697 he married Penelope Cadogan (d. 1746), sister of William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan, and daughter of Henry Cadogan. On his death at the Battle of Malplaquet he was succeeded by his son Sir Thomas Prendergast, 2nd Baronet.

He received his baronetage for informing King William III of the Jacobite plot to ambush the King's coach at Turnham Green. The plot had been conceived by Sir George Barclay, who landed at Romney in January 1696 intent upon assassinating the King. Prendergast was called upon on Thursday 13 February 1696 by Captain George Porter, one of the forty-odd conspirators, to stop the coach on Saturday 15 February. However, on the Friday he went to Whitehall and informed the Earl of Portland on the conspiracy. A man named Fisher had already reported the planned assassination but the plot was taken seriously only after Prendergast's account. It was made known on the Saturday morning that the King would not be driving to Richmond, and so the plotters postponed the assassination until the following Saturday 21 February. Another informer, De La Rue, revealed the plot but the King wanted confirmation from Prendergast, whom he felt he could trust and rely on. On the morning of the plot, the conspirators heard that guards had been dispatched but soon most of them had been rounded up and were eventually charged, thanks mainly to the testimonies of Prendergast.

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