Gas lighting
Sir Thomas was also a Director and leading proponent of the Regent's Canal. He was approached in 1811 by John Nash (architect), the architect, who was a leading advocate of the canal and was present at the Percy Street Meeting, on 31 May 1811 at which a steering committee was set up to plan the building of a canal across north London. Social reformers favoured canals in this period because they greatly reduced the price of coal for the poor, and at that time gas lighting was also being adopted, using gas made from coal. Gas lighting was cheaper than candles. Sir Thomas played a prominent part in the management of the troubled canal throughout his remaining years. In 1818 it was he who finally settled a long-running acrimonious dispute with William Agar of Elm Lodge, whose determined opposition and clever but awkward behaviour had frustrated the canal's construction. Sadly he died just a few weeks after his moment of greatest success when he had resolved this major difficulty by negotiation, so he did not live to see the canal completed.