Thomas Doggett (ca. 1640 – 20 September 1721) was an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

.

Doggett was born in Dublin, and made his first stage appearance in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1691 as Nincompoop in Thomas D'Urfey

Thomas d'Urfey

Thomas D'Urfey was an English writer and wit. He composed plays, songs, and poetry, in addition to writing jokes. He was an important innovator and contributor in the evolution of the Ballad opera....

's Love for Money. In this part, and as Solon in the same author's Marriage-Hater Matched, he became popular. He followed Betterton to Lincoln's Inn Fields, creating the part of Ben, specially written for him, in William Congreve's Love for Love, with which the theatre opened (1695); and the following year played Young Hobb in his own play, The Country Wake. He was associated with Colley Cibber

Colley Cibber

Colley Cibber was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style...

 and others in the management of the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, and Drury Lane

Drury Lane

Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....

, and he continued to play comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 parts at the former until his retirement in 1713. Doggett is highly spoken of by his contemporaries, both as an actor and as a man, and is frequently referred to in the Tatler

Tatler

Tatler has been the name of several British journals and magazines, each of which has viewed itself as the successor of the original literary and society journal founded by Richard Steele in 1709. The current incarnation, founded in 1901, is a glossy magazine published by Condé Nast Publications...

and The Spectator

The Spectator (1711)

The Spectator was a daily publication of 1711–12, founded by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in England after they met at Charterhouse School. Eustace Budgell, a cousin of Addison's, also contributed to the publication. Each 'paper', or 'number', was approximately 2,500 words long, and the...

.

In 1715 Doggett founded the prize of Doggett's Coat and Badge

Doggett's Coat and Badge

Doggett's Coat and Badge is the prize and name for the oldest rowing race in the world. Up to six apprentice Watermen of the River Thames in England compete for this prestigious honour, which has been held every year since 1715. The 4 miles 5 furlongs race is held on the Thames between London...

 in honour of the House of Hanover

House of Hanover

The House of Hanover is a deposed German royal dynasty which has ruled the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , the Kingdom of Hanover, the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

, in commemoration of King George I of Great Britain

George I of Great Britain

George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....

's accession to the Throne on 1 August 1714. The winner's prize is a traditional watermen's orange coat with a silver badge added to the sleeve, displaying the white horse of the House of Hanover and Brunswick, with the word "Liberty". The race had to be rowed annually on August first on the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

, by six young watermen who were not to have exceeded the time of their apprenticeship by twelve months. By 1864 the race report comments: The race continues under modified conditions to this day, and is believed to be the oldest continuously contested sporting event. The executors of Doggett's will (Sir George Markham and Thomas Reynolds) along with Edward Burt, Chief Clerk at the Admiralty Office, entrusted the management of his prize to the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers

Worshipful Company of Fishmongers

The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers is one of the 108 Livery Companies of the City of London, being a guild of the sellers of fish and seafood in the City...

, although reputed to be a liveryman

Liveryman

For Livery Companies in the City of London, a Liveryman is a full member of their respective Company.Livery Company members fall into two basic categories: Freemen and Liverymen. One may join as a Freeman, and thereby acquire the "Freedom of the Company", upon fulfilling the Company's criteria...

, of the Fishmongers' Company, this has yet to be proved. The Company has carried out the instructions in his will to the present day.

Thomas Doggett is buried in the churchyard of St Johns Church in Eltham High Street, SE9 and there is a plaque on the outside of the church in his memory, which states that Doggett died a "pauper".