II.

Life in England

Paine was born in Thetford, Norfolk, England, to an Anglican mother and a Quaker father. He remained poor throughout his life. At the age of 13 he began working for his father, and at 19 he went to sea. Paine returned to England shortly thereafter and moved through various jobs, eventually becoming an excise officer. As an officer he had to collect taxes from smugglers he tracked down. He was dismissed in 1772 for publishing a document calling for an increase in wages as a means of reducing corruption in government service. His personal life did not fare much better: his first wife died and he later legally separated from his second wife.