Thomas Bigge

[3] From a prosperous family in business, with landowning interests, Bigge has been described as a "wealthy associate" of Christopher Wyvill.

They both wrote political tracts, from the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars; and shared channels of distribution in Newcastle, through William Charnley (fl.

1755–1803), a bookseller, and Solomon Hodgson, owner of the Newcastle Chronicle which was at this time a leading Whig journal in the region.

[3][9] In 1795 Grey advised Bigge on an intended anti-war meeting for the county of Northumberland, with a view to keeping the radicals at arm's length: for prudence, no criticism of ministers, and no reform proposals.

[13] Bigge joined the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1795, and played a significant role there.

Bigge was influenced by the example of the Royal Institution, while Turner followed the lecturing efforts of John Alderson and William Farish.

In particular, the "Shield of Achilles" project began with William Theed the elder, who died in 1817; and then passed to John Flaxman.

[23] Money left to the Bigge family exceeded £100,000; according to James Losh, writing in his diary after news of the death, the bequests were some compensation for having had to put up with a "tyrannical miser".