ATTWOOD, THOMAS (1783-1856), English political re former, was born at Halesowen, Worcestershire, Oct. 6 1783. He was one of the founders, in Jan. 1830, of the Political Union, formed to agitate for a reform of the franchise. Under his leadership vast crowds of working men met periodically in the neighbourhood of Birmingham to demonstrate in favour of re form of the franchise, and Attwood used his power to prevent illegal methods of agitation. After the passing of the Reform act in 1832 he was elected one of the members for the new borough of Birmingham, for which he sat till In the House of Commons he was persistent in advocating his monetary theory, that the existing currency should be recti fied in favour of Stat.:-regulated and inconvertible paper money and the adoption of a system for altering the standard of value as prices fluctuated. He retired from Parliament in 1837, and died at Great Malvern, March 6 1856. • His grandson, C. M. Wakefield, wrote his life "for private circula tion" (there is a copy in the British Museum), and his economic theories are set forth in a little book, Gemini, by T. B. Wright and J. Harlow, published in 1844.