John Thelwall

John Thelwall (July 27 1764 – February 17 1834), was a radical British orator, writer, and elocutionist.

Thelwall was born in Covent Garden, London, but was descended from a Welsh family which had its seat at Plas y Ward.

He published a volume of poetry, "Poems on Various Subjects", in 1787, and "The Peripatetic; or, Sketches of the Heart, of Nature and Society; in a Series of Politico-Sentimental Journals" in 1793. From 1795 to 1796, he published "The Tribune," a periodical that mostly consisted of his own political lectures. He helped form the London Corresponding Society in 1792. In 1794, he was tried for treason along with fellow radicals John Horne Tooke and Thomas Hardy, although all three men were acquitted. Government officials who considered him to be the most dangerous man in Britain continued to hound him even after his acquittal.

Among his other views, Thelwall was known for his denouncement of all wars except those of self defense.

A restoration project on Thelwall's grave was launched in 2006 by the Regional History Centre at University of the West of England (UWE).

Works

*"Poems written in close confinement in the Tower and Newgate" (1795)
*"Poems chiefly written in retirment … with a prefatory memoir of the life of the author" (1801)

ources

* [http://wbo.llgc.org.uk/en/s3-THEL-JOH-1764.htm Welsh Biography Online]

Further reading

*Scrivener, Michael, " [http://www.psupress.psu.edu/books/titles/0-271-02109-8.html Seditious Allegories: John Thelwall and Jacobin Writing] ", Penn State Press, 2001 ISBN 0-271-01348-6