{{Short description|British army officer (1782–1832)}} {{other people}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox military person |name = Thomas Brereton |image = |image_size = 41Zqe064fcL._SX312_BO1,204,203,200_ Copyright to image J.A. Brereton |alt = |caption = |birth_date = 1782 |death_date = January {{Death year and age|1832|1782}} |birth_place = King's County,<br> Kingdom of Ireland |death_place = Bristol,<br> England,<br> United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |burial_place = |burial_label = |burial_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> |nickname = |birth_name = |allegiance =Great Britain<br/>United Kingdom |branch = British Army |service_years = 1798–1832 |rank = Lieutenant-Colonel |service_number = |unit = |commands = |battles ={{Tree list}} *French Revolutionary Wars *Napoleonic Wars {{tree list/end}} |awards = |relations = |other_work = }} Lieutenant-Colonel '''Thomas Brereton''' (1782–1832) was an officer of the British Army.
==Career== thumb|The court-martial of Colonel Brereton He was descended from Sir William Brereton, Chief Justice and Lord High Marshal of Ireland. Born in King's County (now County Offaly), Ireland, in 1782. 1798 he received his commission as an ensign in the 8th West India Regiment. 1809 he was promoted to Major and served at the capture of Martinique from the French and Guadelope the following year. He was appointed brigade major in 1813 for his relative Major General Robert Brereton, Lieutenant-Governor of St. Lucia. 1814 he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Senegal and Gorée and was present during the {{ship|French frigate|Méduse|1810|2}} tragedy. 1815 he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal African Corps. 1819 he was appointed to the command of the Cape Town garrison until 1823 when he retired to England to become Inspecting Field Officer for the Bristol recruiting district.
At the time of the 1831 Reform riots in Bristol he was in charge of the troops. The riots started on the Saturday, 29 October 1831, and lasted for three days and though Colonel Brereton only lost control on the Sunday due to lack of troops he still managed to put down the rioting early on Monday morning before the arrival of the reinforcements he had requested. Despite this, he was controversially court-martialled in January 1832, during which he committed suicide.<ref name="BBC">{{cite web | title=Revolting riots in Queen Square | work=BBC Bristol | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/madeinbristol/2004/04/riot/riot.shtml | access-date=7 March 2007 | archive-date=22 April 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422105101/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/madeinbristol/2004/04/riot/riot.shtml | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1832-01-14 |title=SUICIDE OF COLONEL BRERETON. » 14 Jan 1832 » The Spectator Archive |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/14th-january-1832/12/suicide-of-colonel-brereton |magazine=The Spectator |page=12}}</ref> Twice a widower he died leaving four children.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Readeption of Colonel Brereton |first=J. A. |last=Brereton}}</ref>
==Depictions in film== The 1978 children's paranormal TV drama ''The Clifton House Mystery'' was a ghost story based on the circumstances of Brereton's death. The plot revolved around a family moving into an old house in Bristol that finds a long-dead skeleton in a hidden room. After some unexplained incidents, they become convinced that a ghost connected in some way with the 1831 Bristol riots is haunting the house. After checking local records, they realize that it is the ghost of a dragoon commander who was court-martialled for his handling of the riots, and who later disappeared without a trace. The ghost is named "George Bretherton" in the TV series. One of his descendants, named "Mrs Betterton", had sold the house to the family, but was allegedly unaware of the hidden room and its contents, referring only to a vague family scandal that happened generations ago.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369089/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 |title=The Clifton House Mystery |publisher=IMDb |year=2014 |accessdate=6 September 2014}}</ref>
==Depictions in fiction== The 1906 historical novel ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38871 Chippinge]'' (sometimes ''Chippinge Borough'') by Stanley J. Weyman is based on the background to the 1831 Bristol Riots and culminates in a detailed description of those riots and Colonel Brereton's part in them. The main fiction in that description is that the important role played by Major Digby Mackworth is ascribed to the hero, Arthur Vaughan. Colonel Brereton forms part of the early narrative of The Passage to India, Allan Mallinson's novel, Transworld Publishers, 2019. ISBN 9780857503794
==References== {{Reflist}} *''The Readeption of Colonel Brereton'', John Brereton {{DNB|wstitle=Brereton, Thomas (1782-1832) |first=William |last=Hunt |authorlink=William Hunt (priest, born 1842) |volume=6 |page=269}}
==External links== * {{cite web |url= http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/politics/transcript/g6s3t.htm |title=Extracts from The Bristol Gazette on a riot in Bristol, 3 November 1831 |work=National Archives |year=2014 |accessdate=6 September 2014}} (Catalogue ref: PRO HO 40/28) {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brereton, Thomas}} Category:1782 births Category:1832 deaths Category:19th century in Bristol Category:British military personnel who died by suicide Category:Suicides by firearm in England Category:West India Regiment officers Category:British colonial army officers Category:Military personnel from County Offaly Category:49th Regiment of Foot officers Category:King's Shropshire Light Infantry officers Category:Suicides in Bristol Category:Lieutenant colonels