Thomas Doggett (or Dogget) (ca. 1640 – 20 September 1721) was an Irish actor who made his first stage appearance in London in 1691 as Nincompoop in Thomas D'Urfey's Love for Money..
In 1715 Doggett 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 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, by six young watermen who were not to have exceeded the time of their apprenticeship by twelve months.
More information on the Wikipedia page [1]. The Company of Watermen & Lightermen of the River Thames' page is [2]