Thomas Law (1756–1834)

Thomas Law (October 23, 1756 – 1834), was an important reformer of British policy in India and a major investor in early Washington, D.C.

Life

Thomas Law was on October 23, 1756 in Cambridge, England, to a clerical British family. He was the son of Edmund Law, Bishop of Carlisle, and the brother of Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough, George Henry Law, later Bishop of Bath and Wells, and John Law, Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh in Ireland.

Thomas Law went to India as a “writer,” or clerk, in 1773, rose through the East India Company ranks, and became a revenue collector and judge in the province of Bihar. Like many other East India Company officials, Law made a small fortune in the process. Unlike many of his colleagues, however, Law was also something of an intellectual, a policy-maker who helped devise the so-called “Permanent Settlement” which transformed the basis of taxation and land tenure for the natives of India as well as attempted to establish a secure revenue base for the East India Company. After returning in 1791 to England he encountered personal and professional setbacks that led him to leave the country. In 1794, Law, along with two of his three illegitimate mixed-race sons, immigrated to the United States, where he invested large portions of his fortune in buying land and developing the nation’s new capital in Washington, D.C. In 1796, he married Martha Washington's eldest granddaughter, Elizabeth Parke Custis.

Thomas Law

Thomas John Law (born 17 December 1992) is an English actor. He is the fourth actor to play Peter Beale in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. He took over from James Martin on 31 August 2006 on a temporary contract, and since turning 16, was offered a full-time contract with the soap. He left on 24 December 2010, and later the character was recast. It was given to Ben Hardy in June 2013.

Early and personal life

Law has been modelling since the age of four and previously appeared in four episodes of Casualty first aired in late 2005. He lives with his parents, Trish and Robert, and his 2 sisters. Law also has family in Australia and in Dorset. Law attended Chancellor's School in Brookmans Park where fellow actor Vinnie Jones also attended. Law is only one week older than Melissa Suffield the actress who played his on-screen twin sister Lucy Beale for six years until 2010, and he is also a supporter of Leicester City. His hobbies include golf, football and cricket, as well as soprano singing and running.