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.
It seems that pattern-making began not as the science it is today, but as an art form, with formulated pattern-drafting systems not originating until the nineteenth century. It is likely that the creators of eighteenth-century stays draped or sculpted pattern pieces directly on the body, possibly never making paper patterns.
Eighteenth-Century Stays: Their Origins and Creators Read Post »
It is well known that Paine came close to losing the fight to establish democracy within the ruling circles in the American Colonies, because of the wish of John Adams, an American Federalist Congressman, who wanted to have a monarchy in the new United States of America. Paine would never have accepted this, because, to him, democracy was everything.
It was William Cobbett who dug up Paine’s bones in the dead of night in 1819 and brought them back to England with the intention of building a mausoleum in his honour. Appropriately the ship carrying his remains was the ‘Hercules’.
Royle attempts to answer the question why there was no revolution? He looks at the nature of the popular movements arguing that their leaders knew both their own limits and those of their followers. He further argues that the revolutionaries were always in the minority.
BOOK REVIEW: Revolutionary Britannia? Reflections On The Threat Of Revolution In Britain Read Post »
Am I being harsh? Well I certainly hope that I’m not being the only one finding errors in Mr. O’Brien’s little piece. If so I’m sure to be tarred and feathered very soon; the Christians are so very “open minded” about every man having the right to his own opinion.
From the time that his first biographer, Francis Oldys, adopted Thomas Paine, the son of a Thetford stay-maker, as a subject, all others have accepted the fact that he fathered no children. Recent examination of records, from a long time past, suggest that he might have done.
A Small Addition To The Writings On Thomas Paine (1), Quakers Read Post »
Alexander Radishchev (1749-1802) the first Russian radical and Thomas Paine’s contemporary, was the first to understand Paine’s momentous significance for modern history. Radishchev expressed this view already in the 1870s.
Jesus, Paine maintains, was a man not a god and had no intention of starting a new religion. It is worth noting that in Judaism, as the distinguished Jewish scholar, Hyam Maccoby pointed out, for anyone “to claim to be the Messiah was simply to claim the throne of Israel”.
When Paine resided at Lewes he was a member of a bowls club which used to meet at a green in the castle grounds, it was following one such game that having retired for punch and a discussion on politics, Paine conceived the idea for his Rights of Man.
A Sporting Paine, Or Was Thomas Paine A Cricketer? Read Post »
Although he would have denied the charge and hated the idea, Wilkes was in some ways a precursor to Thomas Paine. His career, foreshortened in history textbooks to the slogan ‘Wilkes and Liberty’ is a fascinating one.
Thomas Paine Society undoubtedly has members who cherish his Age of Reason, their undoubted right, but can they deny that it has damaged Rights of Man for many others? A sad out- come for such an outstanding social reformer, and his work.
Not all of Thomas Paine’s ideas were new or original. It was the man himself who was one of life’s originals. It’s hard to imagine an environment antagonistic to free thought when we are so accustomed to such freedom of thought now.
