Owner Comments:
Middlesex Spence DH #691
Obverse: Bust of Thomas Spence T. SPENCE 7 MONTHS IMPRISON'D FOR HIGH TREASON
Reverse: A soldier shaking hands with two citizens WE ALSO ARE THE PEOPLE Ex: 1796
Edge: SPENCE X DEALER X IN X COINS X LONDON X
Diesinker: Charles James
Manufacturer: Thomas Spence
Rarity: Common
The phrase "We also are the people" is from Les Ruines by Constantin Francois de Chasseboeuf, comte de Volney, published in 1791. Based on a vision the author had where the military governors urge the soldiers to suppress the people but the soldiers ground their arms declaring "We also are the people".
Often referred to as the first socialist, Thomas Spence was born in 1750 in Newcastle-upon Tyne and was an English radical, advocating for common ownership of the land and equality of the sexes. He was one of the leading revolutionaries of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He left Newcastle for London in 1787 and had a book shop ‘The Hive of Liberty’ at 8 Little Turnstile, High Holborn. He published a weekly tabloid “Pigs Meat, or Lessons for the Swinish Multitude, Collected by the Poor Man’s Advocate” where he advocated for reforms. He was a member of the London Corresponding Society and was imprisoned multiple times. He spent 7 months in Newgate Goal in 1794 charged with high treason and 12 months in 1801 for seditious libel. He died in London on 8 September 1814.
One of Thomas Spence's many political tokens.
Atkins: Middlesex 525
Bt. Allan Davisson
Ex: Francis Cokayne