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Prendergast, Pender
Maurice de Prendergast, whose name was taken from a village in Pembrokeshire, came to Ireland with Strongbow and was one of the leading Anglo-Norman invaders who obtained extensive grants of land in various parts of the south and west of the country. His descendants were seated near Waterford and in south Mayo, districts in which the name has always subsequently been found. In 1598 they are listed as among the leading gentry of Counties Waterford, Wexford and Tipperary. Some families of Prendergast assumed the name Fitzmaurice at an early date. The Prendergasts who assumed the Fitzmaurice name were also called MacMaris; Sir Henry Sidney so terms them in a despatch of 1576.
The most distinguished man of the name was John Patrick Prendergast (1808-1893), author of The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland and other historical works. Two Sir Thomas Prendergasts (1660-1709 and 1698 - 1760), father and son, are noteworthy, though not praiseworthy from the Irish point of view: the first was a Jacobite who betrayed an anti-William plot in which he was concerned and subsequently became a brigadier in the English army, being killed at the battle of Malplaque; the son who became a Protestant was noted for his virulent anti-clericalism. After the defeat of James II these Prendergasts obtained extensive grants of O'Shaughnessy lands in Co. Galway, litigation regarding which dragged on till 1755.
The name Prendergast has been widely corrupted to Pender.