Click to image above to enlarge
Thomas Paine, Excise Officer, Sussex, 1772
Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was born in Thetford, England, into a Quaker family. He is portrayed at the time of his first political pamphlet, ‘The Case of the Officers of Excise’ (1772), that argued for improved pay and working conditions. He left England and joined the American Revolution where he anonymously wrote ‘Common Sense’ (1776), an immensely influential and accessible pamphlet, during the struggle for independence. He returned to England and produced ‘Rights of Man’ (1791) in response to Edmund Burke and in defence of republicanism. He moved to France during the revolutionary period and served on the National Convention, despite not speaking French. He wrote critically about organised religion in ‘Age of Reason’ in three parts in 1794, 1795, and in 1807 in North America. He remains largely unrecognised in Britain.