Everything about Thomas Doggett totally explained
Thomas Doggett (or
Dogget), (ca.
1670 –
20 September 1721), was an
Irish actor.
Doggett was born in
Dublin, and made his first stage appearance in
London in
1691 as Nincompoop in
Thomas D'Urfey'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, especially 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 and others in the management of the
Theatre Royal, Haymarket, and
Drury Lane, and he continued to play
comedy 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 and
The Spectator.
It was Doggett who, in 1715, founded the prize of
Doggett's Coat and Badge in honour of the
House of Hanover, in commemoration of King
George I of Great Britain's accession to the Throne on
1 August 1714. The prize was an orange coat with a large silver badge on the arm, 'representing Liberty', bearing the white horse of Hanover, and the race had to be rowed annually on August 1 on the
River Thames, by six young watermen who were not to have exceeded the time of their apprenticeship by twelve months. Although the first contest took place in 1715, the names of the winners have only been preserved since 1791. The race continues under modified conditions to this day, and is believed to be the oldest continuously running sporting contest. Doggett entrusted the management of his Prize to the
Worshipful Company of Fishmongers, of which he was a
Liveryman, and the Company has carried out this trust until the present day.
Thomas Doggett is buried in the churchyard of St Johns Church in Eltham High Street, SE9 and there's a plaque on the outside of the church in his memory.
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