Thomas Cumming

Who is Thomas Cumming?

Thomas Cumming was an American merchant of the 18th century who built up a large commercial empire in West Africa. He is the best known for the role he played in the 1758 Capture of Senegal in which he submitted a plan to the British war leader William Pitt which advocated an attack on France's valuable but ill-defended African colonies.

Cumming was born in New York City, and raised as a Quaker, something which later earned him the nickname of the "fighting quaker".