By Gary Berton

The following is from Dick Holdstock’s “Again with One Voice”. Dick Holdstock is a well-known singer of traditional British and Sea songs, having played with Allan MacLeod and with his wife Carol Holdstock in several countries. His book Again With One Voice, British Songs of Political Reform, 1768 to 1868 was published in May of 2021.

A song by Joseph Mather, to the tune of God Save the Queen, “showing support for Tom Paine’s Rights of Man and reflecting the republican sentiment immediately understood by working people.” From the mid 1790s, in the face of brutal repression by the British crown. 

God Save the Great Thomas Paine 

God save great Thomas Paine, 

His “Rights of Man” to explain 

To e’ry soul. 

He makes the blind to see, 

What dupes and slaves they be,

And points out liberty 

From pole, to pole.

Thousands cry “church and king” 

That well deserve to swing, 

All must allow; 

Birmingham blush for shame, 

Manchester do the same, 

Infamous is your name, 

Patriot’s vow. 

Pull proud oppressors down, 

Knock off each tyrant’s crown, 

And break his sword; 

Down with aristocracy, 

Set up democracy, 

And from hypocrisy 

Save us good Lord. 

Why should despotic pride 

Usurp on every side?

 Let us be free; 

Grant freedom’s arms success, 

And all her efforts bless 

Plant thro’ the universe Liberty’s tree. 

Facts are seditious things 

When they touch courts and kings 

Armies are raised, 

Barracks and bastilles built, 

Innocence charged with guilt, 

Blood most unjustly spilt, 

Gods stand amaz’d. 

Despots may howl and yell, 

Tho’ they’re in League with hell 

They’ll not reign long; 

Satan may lead the van, 

And do the worst he can, 

Paine and his Rights of man 

Shall be my song. 

Dick is now over ninety and is currently playing as a member of Quite Carried Away for the Sacramento English Country Dances twice monthly. He also enjoys singing and recording sea songs as a member of Holdstock, Clegg, and Pratt. They released West Coast Shanties and Sea Songs in July 2025. Find more about Mr. Holdstock at his website: https://dickholdstock.com/

The post A Song: God Save the Great Thomas Paine appeared first on Thomas Paine Historical Association.

Beacon #3 January 1, 2022

By Gary Berton

When our Association was formed, it was on January 29, 1884, on Paine’s birthdate. The people involved had gathered every year on Paine’s birthdate, to meet at the Liberal Club in New York City. Rod Bradford at The Truth Seeker has discovered that the physical location was at the German Masonic Temple in New York City, (see article on next page), and we were called the Paine Historical Society, soon to be changed to Paine Historical Association, and then to the present name.

It was a regular occurrence across the country for groups to celebrate Paine on his birthday. The first recorded celebration was in 1825 in New York City, then it spread to Boston, Cincinnati, and Rochester. Soon it was commonplace to hold Paine Birthday events across the country.

The first celebrations were hosted by both labor groups and freethought groups, and attended by the leading progressives, such as Frances Wright, “the female Thomas Paine,” who toured the country as the first female orator, the first feminist activist and freethinker in the 1830s and 40s. All of these celebrations ran counter to a culture of racism, religious fanaticism, and suppressed speech. And they endured on and off for the last nearly 200 years.

Celebrations in New York City in the post WWI era were held at dining rooms in NYC’s largest hotels, and hundreds attended, and organized by TPNHA. After moving to New Rochelle in 1925, and after most of the leading men and women of the TPNHA founders had died, the celebrations became sporadic, but were revived in the late 1990s. Since then the tradition has reestablished the original practice of giving toasts to Paine and what he stood for and accomplished.

The post A History of Paine Birthday Events appeared first on Thomas Paine Historical Association.