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 happen to know the authors of both these booklets, and I also know the amount of research put into the preparation of their works; I trust that I shall be forgiven, when I say that, as after a healthy meal, I wanted more, after I had finished reading them.
The exhibition chose the fall of the Bastille as its starting point, which made it of particular interest to students of Paine, and went on immediately to show how his Rights of Man challenged Edmund Burke and the Tories in its support of the principles of the French Revolution.
To cry with full freedom, “He’s a Red”, is too easy a way to answer a modern problem. To jail a man, be it in the holiday haunt of Spain or in freezing Moscow will never answer the challenge of Thomas Paine. Freedom. We cannot afford a 1966 Battle of Hastings.
To hear “God save great Thomas Paine” sung on an English stage is surely a rare experience. This was the privilege of the audiences at Sheffield Playhouse recently, during the presentation of “The Stirrings in Sheffield on Saturday Night”, a sort of documentary with music written by Alan Cullen.
It has been generally accepted that the only office Thomas Paine was elected to by public vote was a seat in the French Convention. Now thanks to research undertaken by Leslie Davey of Lewes it is now known that Paine was at one time a member of Lewes Town Council.
A member of the Thetford Council has resigned over the decision to erect the statue, but the guests who accepted an invitation to attend included Sir Charles Wheeler, President of the Royal Academy, who made the statue for the Thomas Paine Foundation of America to present to Thetford.
The historic first A.G.M. of the Thomas Paine Society took place in the Sussex town of Lewes on Saturday, November 14th. It was a fitting conclusion to a very active year’s work and fittingly held in a town with many Paine associations.
Thomas Paine Society First Annual General Meeting Read Post »
As mentioned in the A.G.M. Report the Society is co-operating with the Trade Union, Labour, Co-operative and Democratic History Society. This body organised a conference in London on October 31st. at which the Thomas Paine Society was officially represented.
