John Thelwall (1764-1834), political orator, writer and elocutionist, has today (24 May) been commemorated with an English Heritage Blue Plaque. The plaque was unveiled at 40 Bedford Place in Bloomsbury, where Thelwall opened his pioneering institution of elocution in 1806.

Famously described as possessing a speaking style like a ‘volcano vomiting out lava’ by social commentator William Hazlitt, Thelwall was one of the most popular and effective orators of his day. He was a controversial figure, who achieved a unique political celebrity outside the realm of Westminster and in the arena of radical debate and protest. A champion of free speech, parliamentary reform and universal suffrage, he was also a pacifist who condemned the violence of the French Revolution, as well as a pioneer of elocution and speech therapy.

Professor Ronald Hutton, English Heritage Blue Plaques Panel Chair, said: “John Thelwall was one of the most original and outstanding public figures of the late Georgian era. He was a highly influential writer and journalist, who constituted a direct link between the radical movement and the Romantic poets, Wordsworth and Coleridge, as well as being an outspoken supporter of free speech and a ground-breaking contributor to the practice of elocution. We are delighted to celebrate his achievements with a blue plaque at the building where he lived and worked.”

John Thelwall, born 27 July 1764 in Covent Garden, London, began his career in the family silk business at the age of thirteen, having been removed from school after the death of his father. It was during his apprenticeship to an attorney that Thelwall studied the oratorical skills displayed in court and became a frequent speaker at public debates. He also entered the literary world, publishing articles in periodicals, and became increasingly radical in his political outlook, arguing often in favour of parliamentary reform.

In his speeches and writings, he vehemently opposed the British government’s decision to declare war on France in 1793, and hundreds of people flocked to hear ‘Citizen’ Thelwall’s lectures, which he gave twice weekly, dodging arrest and moving from one venue to another, as government agents intimidated those renting out rooms for his lectures. Just as plans were being drawn up for a general convention, in May 1794 the leaders of the reform movement, including Thomas Hardy, John Horne Tooke, Thomas Spence, and Thelwall, were arrested and charged with treason. Imprisoned in the Tower and then in Newgate, Thelwall went on trial in December but was acquitted, along with his fellow defendants. Thelwall continued to speak out until an attempt to press-gang him into the navy while lecturing in Great Yarmouth finally persuaded him to abandon politics. In 1805, he set up a school to treat pupils with speech impediments in Brownlow Hill, Liverpool, which he re-opened on moving back to London where he continued his lectures. On 17 February 1834 he died in Bath, aged sixty-nine.

The English Heritage Blue Plaque to John Thelwall is at the grade II listed 40 Bedford Place, Bloomsbury, an end-of-terrace house consisting of four storeys and a basement built by James Burton – one of the most prolific builders of the era – and now in use as a hotel. It was newly built when, in 1806, Thelwall moved in and opened his ‘Seminary for the cultivation of the science and practice of elocution, and the cure of impediments of speech’; the institution – and Thelwall himself – remained there for seven years before moving to Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

Other people prominent political writers and orators of Thelwall’s era recognised under the London Blue Plaques Scheme include Francis Place in Knightsbridge, William Hazlitt in Soho, William Wilberforce in Chelsea and Charles James Fox in Mayfair.

The English Heritage London Blue Plaques scheme is generously supported by David Pearl and members of the public.