Dermott, Anthony (1708?–1784), merchant and catholic activist, was born probably in the parish of St Michan, Dublin, son of Christopher Dermott, merchant, and his wife Mary. No information on his education has been discovered. With the death of his father (1727), Dermott had at an early age to take over the running of a merchant business. Later, with his three sons, he went on to develop a large and lucrative provision trade as well as a shipping business. However, rich catholic merchants such as the Dermotts often had a problem as to where they might safely invest accumulated wealth. Thus, early in 1750 Dermott was seeking counsel's opinion as to the manner in which he, being a papist, might best secure the sum of £9,000 loaned on certain securities.
The setting up of the Catholic Committee in Dublin (1756) offered prominent merchants like Dermott a chance to play a public role, and he was in fact an early secretary of that body. He was also one of the prime movers in organising an address (December 1759) by the catholic gentry, merchants, and citizens of Dublin to the lord lieutenant, the duke of Bedford (qv). To a government beset by fears of a French invasion and riotous behaviour on the streets of Dublin, sparked off by rumours of a union of the two parliaments, this address proved so welcome that Bedford ordered the speaker to call Dermott before the house of commons and to hand him a written reply assuring catholics that ‘so long as they conducted themselves with duty and affection, they could not fail to obtain his majesty's protection’.
By 1761 the protestant merchants in Dublin had become so disenamoured of the activities of the merchants' guild that they decided to set up a society in opposition to it, composed indiscriminately of all Dublin merchants, for the defence of their trade and the promotion of laws beneficial to merchants. A ‘committee of merchants’ was appointed to carry out the aims of the society, and Dermott was a member of this committee (along with three or four other catholic merchants, including his son Owen), and occasionally acted as chairman. The committee made an input into such matters as the building of a new exchange in Dublin (for the funds of which Dermott was one of the trustees), the preparation of a bankruptcy bill, and a scheme of inland navigation from Dublin to the Shannon. When a chamber of commerce was set up in the city (March 1783), Dermott was elected a vice-president of its council. He was also active with other catholic merchants in the formation of fire and general insurance companies.
Meanwhile the Catholic Committee, which had been dormant for several years, had been revived in the early 1770s with Dermott again prominent at meetings. He was a member of a subcommittee that sought (in vain) amendments to the special oath for catholics contained in a bill passed in June 1774. There was bitter opposition to this oath from some catholics, including Archbishop John Carpenter (qv) of Dublin. However, Dermott was among those prepared to accept it, although there was nothing tangible to be gained from so doing, and he duly took the oath in the court of king's bench (June 1775). The act of 1774 was a sort of curtain-raiser for the relief acts of 1778 and 1782, but Dermott (who now spelled his name MacDermott) was not to live long enough to enjoy the benefits of these latter. He died in January 1784 and was buried in St James's churchyard, Dublin. His will, dated June 1777, names three sons and a daughter by his wife Mary Tobin, but there were probably other children who died before that date.