active 1567 Thomas Harman

Thomas Harman was an English writer active in the 1560s, remembered chiefly for A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors, a work first published in 1566 and revised in later editions. It became one of the best-known early accounts of beggars, rogues, and wandering poor people in Tudor England.

Sources consistently describe him as a Kent landowner and gentleman, and some older reference works note that he lived at Crayford. His writing stands out for its attempt to record the language, tricks, and social world of people living on the edges of society.

Although the details of his life are sparse, Harman's book had a long afterlife and helped shape later writing about rogues and vagabonds. He is still of interest today for what his work reveals about poverty, crime, and popular culture in 16th-century England.