Thomas Attwood

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For the English composer and organist, see Thomas Attwood (composer)

Bronze statue in Chamberlain Square

A grade II listed statue of Thomas Attwood in Highgate Park, Birmingham

Thomas Attwood (6 October 1783 - 9 March 1859), was a British economist and strong campaigner for electoral reform.

He was born in Halesowen, and attended Wolverhampton Grammar School. Following years of hardship for his home city, he founded the Birmingham Political Union in 1830. This was a political organization campaigning for cities, and large towns such as Birmingham, to be directly represented in Parliament. The Birmingham Political Union was foremost among groups lobbying the government for the passage of the Reform Bill to achieve this aim. After its success he became the first MP for Birmingham, a position he held until 1839.

He died in Malvern, Worcestershire. His 1993 bronze statue sits, having left his plinth, and scattered his bronze pages, on the steps of Chamberlain Square in Birmingham.