Thomas Spence was born in Newcastle
in 1750. Spence became a schoolmaster and he gradually developed radical
political views and in the 1770s began to argue that all land should
be nationalised. Spence was strongly influenced by the writings of
Tom Paine. In Newcastle
he sold Paine's work on the street as well as pamphlets that he had
written.
In December 1792 Spence moved to London
and attempted to make a living my selling Tom Paine's Rights
of Man on street corners. He was arrested but soon after
he was released from prison he opened a shop in Chancery Lane where
he sold radical books and pamphlets. In 1793 he started a periodical,
Pig's Meat but in May 1794 he
was arrested and imprisoned and because Habeas
Corpus had been suspended, the authorities were able to hold him
without trial until December 1794.
After his
release from prison Thomas Spence moved to a shop he called the 'Hive
of Liberty', in Little Turnstile, Holban but in 1801 he was arrested
and imprisoned for selling seditious publications. At his trial Spence
called himself the unpaid "advocate of the disinherited seed
of Adam". After Spence's release he opened a shop in Oxford Street.
The business was not a success and he eventually ended up selling
broadsheets, handbills, newspapers and pamphlets from a barrow. To
increase trade he also sold a hot drink called saloop. Spence wrote
a great deal of the work that he sold. Spence was one of the first
radicals to advocate women's rights. He also campaigned for changes
in the law to make it possible for working people to be able to obtain
a divorce.
Trade token produced by Thomas Spence
showing William Pitt on the gallows (c. 1800)
By the
early 1800s Spence had established himself as the unofficial leader
of those Radicals who advocated revolution. James
Watson, was one of the men who worked very closely with Spence
during this period. Spence did not believe in a centralized radical
body and instead encouraged the formation of small groups that could
meet in local public houses. At the night the men walked the streets
and chalked on the walls slogans such as "Spence's Plan and Full
Bellies" and "The Land is the People's Farm". In 1800
and 1801 the authorities believed that Spence and his followers were
responsible for bread riots in London. However, they did not have
enough evidence to arrest them.
Thomas
Spence continued his campaign and was one of the eighteen radical
journalists who was tried in British courts between 1808 and 1810.
When Thomas Spence died in September 1814 he was buried by "forty
disciples" who pledged that they would keep his ideas alive.
This group of men formed the Society of Spencean
Philanthropists and continued to meet for the next six years.
It was Spenceans such as Arthur Thistlewood,
James Ings, John Brunt,
William Davidson and Richard
Tidd that organised the Cato Street Conspiracy
in 1820.
Thomas Spence Society
Forum Debate
Thomas Spence
(1)
Thomas Spence, Private Property (c. 1780)
Landed
property always was acquired by conquest or encroachment on the
common property of mankind. The public mind is being suitably prepared
by reading my little tracts. A few parishes have only to declare
the land to be theirs and form a convention of parochial delegates.
Other adjacent parishes would follow the example, and send their
delegates and thus would a beautiful and powerful new Republic instantaneously
arise in full vigour. The power and resources of war passing in
this manner in a moment into the hands of the people.
(2)
Thomas Spence, Pigs Meat (1793)
Awake!
Arise! Arm yourselves with truth, justice, reason. Lay siege to
corruption. Claim as your inalienable right, universal suffrage
and annual parliaments. And whenever you have the gratification
to choose a representative, let him be from among the lower orders
of men, and he will know how to sympathize with you.
(3)
Francis Place was one of those who was
influenced by Thomas Spence.
Thomas Spence was
not more than five feet high, very honest, simple, single-minded,
who loved mankind, and firmly believed that a time would come when
men would be virtuous, wise and happy.
(4)
In 1801 Thomas Spence wrote and published a pamphlet attacking large
landowners, including the Duke of Portland, the Home Secretary.
Spence was arrested and found guilty of seditious libel.
What must I say to the French if they come? If they jeeringly ask
me what I am fighting for? Must I tell them, "for my country"?
My dear country in which I dare not pluck a nut? Would they not
laugh at me? If the French came I would throw down my musket, saying:
"Let such as the Duke of Portland, who claims the country,
fight for it."
(5)
Thomas Spence, Divorce and the Common People (c. 1805)
The
'Chains of Hymen' would be among the first that would be broken in
case of a revolution. What signifies reforms of government or redress
of public grievances, if people cannot have their domestic grievances
redressed.
