Thomas Hardy (political reformer)
This article is about the political reformer. For other people with the same name, please see Thomas Hardy (disambiguation).
Thomas Hardy was the founder and also the first Secretary of the London Corresponding Society.
His early life
Thomas Hardy was born in 1752. He was apprenticed to a shoe maker in Stirlingshire. He later worked in the Carron Iron Works. As a young man, he came to London just before the American Revolutionary War. He married.
Involvement with the London Corresponding Society
Around 1792, Thomas Hardy founded the L.C.S, starting out with just 9 friends. Two years later it had grown so powerful that he was arrested by the Crown on charges of high treason. While the charges were prosecuted, he was acquitted by a London Grand Jury after 9 days of testimony and debate.
References
- E.P. Thompson, The making of the English working class; Vintage Books, NY, NY; 1963. (The source for the facts in original version of this article.)
- Memoir of Thomas Hardy ... Written by Himself (1832)