Thomas Doggett

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Thomas Doggett on stage

Thomas Doggett (or Dogget), (ca. 1670 – September 20, 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 honor 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 a red 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.