• Name: Thelwall, John
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: 27  July  1764
• Death Date: 17  February  1834
• Occupation: political reformer
• Occupation: lecturer

John Thelwall was a political reformer who began a literary career in the late 1780s before turning his hand to political lecturing. He was particularly associated with the Society for Free Debate which met in the Coachmakers' Hall in London. In 1793 he became a member of the London Corresponding Society and he quickly became its most vocal member. He was arrested and tried for treason in 1794 where Godwin's pamphlet Cursory Strictures was widely held to have contributed to the release of him and his co-accused. He was a friend of Coleridge and Wordsworth which doubtless helped maintain his interest in literary activities throughout the 1790s. In later life he pursued a career as an itinerant lecturer.

Godwin was close to Thelwall for much of 1793-5 and they were both members of the Philomaths, a private debating club. Their relationship cooled after Godwin's 1795 pamphlet Considerations, but they remained in contact until Thelwall's death in 1834. There are six uncoded instances of Godwin seeing Mrs Thelwall during Thelwall's incareceration in 1794.

Godwin records his death.

• DNB.

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.