In 1964, there was political opposition to the erection of Paine’s statue outside King’s House in Thetford, UK which was a gift from the American Thomas Paine Foundation. The controversy led to the foundation of the Thomas Paine Society UK with a goal of promoting a better understanding of the man and his work. The Thomas Paine Society UK became the premier Thomas Paine historical society in the UK. In 2025, the Thomas Paine National Historical Association merged with the Thomas Paine Society UK to form the internationally-focused Thomas Paine Historical Association. This is the archive of the Thomas Paine Society UK Bulletin from 1965 to 2013.
I did not think I should discover additional facts to further lend support to my thesis. I am happy to have found this evidence, which irrefutably proves Paine’s direct connection with the Declaration of Independence, that I am constrained to make it the subject of this special article.
Joseph Lewis was a major factor in having Thomas Paine placed in the Hall of Fame and a bronze bust placed therein. He was largely instrumental in having the United States government issue a postage stamp honoring Paine.
Herbert Cutner died aged 88 in February of this year. His death is a loss not only to art but also to this Society. Cutner was a Founder Member of the Thomas Paine Society and the first individual to accept a Vice-Presidency.
I suspect that Paine would not have agreed with being called an “Angel”, though when taking into account some of the other things he was called, such a description is innocuous enough. This book has no value as a historical work, but it certainly has value as a Paine curiosity.
Thomas “Clio” Rickman (1761-1834) was a prominent radical reformer, bookseller and propagandist. He was a close friend of Thomas Paine who subscribed to his book of poems and wrote the first friendly life of him.
Our President, our Society, and I, were made to feel very much at home at Thetford’s ‘Rights of Man’. The kindness of the organisers of the event will, I know, be repaid many times over in visits by members to the pub in Brandon Road.
Rodger became associated with working-class radical politics, writing political squibs for a journal called The Spirit of the Union. Shortly after joining the staff of the journal the editor was charged with sedition, found guilty, and sentenced to transportation for life.
Alexander Rodger’s Stanzas on Thomas Paine’s Death Read Post »
![“Reason against unreason” a 1882 illustration by Joseph Keppler and Adolph Schwarzmann shows the “Light of Reason”, containing bust portraits of “Johannes Kepler, I. Kant, Thomas Paine, Jefferson, B. de Spinoza, Franklin, Voltaire, E.H. Haeckel, Tyndall, Huxley, [and] Darwin”, beaming against a large umbrella labeled “Bigotry, Supernaturalism, [and] Fanaticism” – Library of Congress](https://thomaspaine.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Reason-against-unreason.jpg)
Paine appealed to reason, his ultimate cause was a democratic system of society. His spirit stands in glaring contrast to that of the politico-religious dictators who lorded it over most nations when he wrote, and who have their counterparts today in dictators.
Stories of Paine’s recantation or conversion were once the stock in trade of any self-respecting evangelical preacher or writer. In our more sophisticated age with its closer attention to detail, claims of such a specific nature have given way to those of a more general character.
The Age of Reason exerted an anti-religious influence on the reader at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. Merciless criticism of the Bible, revelations of the hypocrisy of tho clergy, a passionate call to readers to rely on the facts of Nature and human reason.
THIS commemorative volume is something of a botch-potch. Jumbled together are short tributes to Gallacher, extracts from his own writings, a number of essays mostly on literary themes, and a section which re-prints some of Thomas Spence’s work. Amongst the wealth of material there is much of pure gold
BOOK REVIEW: The Heirs to Paine’s Democratic Tradition Read Post »
When this possibility of making money is added to his desire to influence political affairs, one understands why Morris remained in Europe four years after his recall as Minister to France. After all, it was for financial and political reasons that he had come in the first place.
Gouverneur Morris: Some Political And Economic Intrigues Read Post »
