Thomas Day, an English author and philanthropist, born in London in 1748, died Sept. 28, 1789. His father, a collector of the customs, died when Thomas was a year old, leaving him an ample fortune. He was educated at the Charterhouse, and at Corpus Christi college, Oxford, which he left after three years' study, without taking a degree. He was induced to study law, and was called to the bar, but never practised. He resided successively in different parts of the continent, making himself familiar with the wants of the lower classes, and alleviating them to the extent of his power. Indignant with a nobleman who was believed to be a seducer, he challenged him to single combat, but in vain. He selected from the foundling hospital at Shrewsbury two girls 12 years of age, designing to educate them after the principles of Rousseau, and ultimately to marry one of them. His expectations were not realized, although both his protegees did honor to his views of education, and one became the wife of his friend Bick-well. In 1778 he married a lady of Yorkshire having opinions and a fortune like his own, and retired to his estates in Essex and Surrey, where he took an active part as an advocate of American independence and parliamentary reform.

He published several poems and pamphlets against slavery and the slave trade, and on other political questions, but owes his celebrity chiefly to "The History of Sandford and Merton" (3 vols., 1783-9), one of the most popular books designed for the information of youth, written with freshness and vigor, and inculcating the virtues and philanthropy which characterized its author. This was followed by a shorter work of fiction, entitled "The History of Little Jack." Day met his death by a kick from a young horse, which he was trying to train upon a humane principle; and his wife was so afflicted by the intelligence that she never again left her darkened chamber, though she survived him two years.