Thomas Spence

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For the American Congressman, see Thomas Ara Spence.

Thomas Spence (June 21, 1750 – September 8, 1814) was the Radical inventor of a system of land nationalization. He was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, the son of a Scottish netmaker and shoemaker.

A dispute in connection with common land rights at Newcastle impelled him to the study of the land question. His scheme was not for land nationalization proper but for the establishment of self-contained parochial communities, in which rent paid to the corporation (wherein the absolute ownership of the land was vested) should be the only tax of any kind.

His pamphlet, The Meridian Sun of Liberty, which was first hawked in Newcastle, appeared in London in 1793; it was reissued by Mr. H. M. Hyndman under the title of The Nationalization of the Land in 1795 and 1882.

Spence presently left Newcastle for London, where he kept a book-stall in High Holborn. In 1784 he spent six months in Newgate gaol for the publication of a pamphlet distasteful to the authorities, and in 1801 he was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment for seditious libel in connection with his pamphlet entitled The Restorer of Society to its Natural State. He died in London on 8 September 1814.

His admirers formed a "Society of Spencean Philanthropists," of which some account is given in Harriet Martineau's England During the Thirty Years' Peace. See also Davenport, Life, Writings and Principles of Thomas Spence (London, 1836).

Spence was inspired to write The Real Rights of Man by a lawsuit between the freemen and corporation of Newcastle over the use of the common land in the town.

In the book, he developed "Spencean Philanthropy", whereby....

All land would be held in common by each parish
Profits from the rents were to be used to support the administration, public *Libraries and schools of the area
Each parish would choose a representative for a national assembly
Every adult male would be a member of the militia

Famous Spenceans