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British author and abolitionist (1748–1789)
other persons named Thomas Day

Thomas Day (22 June 1748 – 28 September 1789) was a British author and abolitionist. He was well known for the book The History of Sandford and Merton (1783–1789) which emphasized Rousseauvian educational ideals, for his writings against slavery, for campaigning both for and against American independence, and for his project applying his educational ideals to young girls with the aim of raising a wife for himself.

Day was born on 22 June 1748 in London, the only child of Thomas and Jane Day. His father died when he was about a year old, but left him wealthy. He first attended a school in Stoke Newington, Middlesex, where the family lived at what is now 109 111 Church Street, but after a bout of smallpox which left his face permanently scarred he was moved to Charterhouse School. He subsequently attended Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he became a master debater and developed a close friendship with William Jones; he did not graduate and left the college in 1767.

Day moved back to his family estate at Barehill, Berkshire, in 1766. Using Edgeworth's name, Day applied to the Foundling Hospital to take first one and then another girl, initially aged 12 and 11; he told the Hospital that they were to be apprenticed as maids in Edgeworth's household, which Edgeworth did not know of until several months later. He renamed them from Ann Kingston and Dorcas Car to Sabrina Sidney and Lucretia, respectively. What last name he chose for 'Lucretia' is not known. He made a donation of fifty pounds to the Foundling Hospital and was appointed a member of the governing board. He met Esther Milnes (1753–1792), an heiress from Chesterfield, and they were married on 7 August 1778. The couple subsequently moved to a small estate at Stapleford Abbotts, near Abridge in Essex. They lived a very ascetic lifestyle and Esther was not allowed to contact her family. In 1780, the couple moved to Anningsley in Surrey, when Day bought a new estate there. It was a philanthropic project for both husband and wife and they laboured to improve the conditions of the working classes around them.

In 1773, Day published his first work—The Dying Negro—a poem he had written with John Bicknell. It tells the story of a runaway slave, and sold well. The contradiction between the claim that "all men are created equal" and the existence of American slavery attracted comment from some quarters when the United States Declaration of Independence was first published; Congress, having made a few changes in wording, deleted nearly a fourth of the draft before publication, most notably removing a passage critical of the slave trade, as there were members of Congress who owned black slaves. Day was among those who noted the discrepancy, writing in 1776: "If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves." Day decided to study the law and in 1776 was admitted to Lincoln's Inn; he rarely practised. Day argued for the rights of the American colonists in his poem "The Devoted Legions" (1776) and in 1780 he argued in Parliament for an early peace with the revolutionaries as well as parliamentary reform. His speeches were also published as pamphlets. It was as a writer for children that Day made his reputation. The History of Little Jack (1787) was extremely popular, but it could not match the sales of The History of Sandford and Merton (1783, 1786, 1789) which was a bestseller for over a hundred years. Embracing Rousseau's dictates in many ways, it narrates the story of the rich, noble but spoiled Tommy Merton and his poor but virtuous friend Harry Sandford. Through trials and stories, Harry and the boys' tutor teach Tommy the importance of labor and the evils of the idle rich.

Day was thrown from his horse while trying to break it using kindness at Barehill, Berkshire, on 28 September 1789 and died almost instantly. He was buried at St Mary's Church, Wargrave, Berkshire.

Jefferson, Cord, "A British Intellectual's Mission 'To Create The Perfect Wife'" (review), NPR, 30 April 2013. Uglow, Jenny. The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. .