Comparing John Thelwall and Thomas Erskine: Radical networks and cultures of reform 1780–1820

David Watkinson David Watkinson

doi:10.13169/socialistlawyer.77.0036

Abstract

Comparing John Thelwall and Thomas Erskine: Radical networks and cultures of reform 1780–1820

Highlights

Many years ago when I was attending classes for the finals of my professional exams in order to qualify as a barrister, my class was addressed by Lord Denning
It was from him that I first heard of Thomas Erskine
Crown and the subject arraigned in Court where he daily sits to practice, from that moment the liberties of England are at an end

Summary

Introduction

Many years ago when I was attending classes for the finals of my professional exams in order to qualify as a barrister, my class was addressed by Lord Denning. In emphasising to us the importance of the integrity and independence of the Bar as a vital part of the fabric of the UK legal system and constitution, he quoted from a speech of Erskine’s. It was made in 1792, in defence of Thomas Paine on a charge of seditious libel for writing The Rights of Man:. Thelwall himself had begun legal training with a Temple solicitor, when young, at the urging of an uncle, but he found himself unfit for the job On one occasion he felt unable to serve a writ which he knew would cause hardship upon a poor family. His father was a silk mercer whose early death (when Thelwall was eight) saw his son earning a living in the family shop and apprenticed to a tailor and to a solicitor in succession before beginning to earn his living as a literary journalist and a lecturer notably, at first, in medicine. >>>

THOMAS ERSKINE

There is a marked contrast the breadth of their respective

Continues to lecture on political reform

Becomes elocution and speech therapist