Thomas Hales was a British-born French dramatist and librettist. He was from an Irish expatriate family in Gloucestershire and joined the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War. He settled in Jamaica for a short time and then in Havana, Cuba, before moving to Europe to travel. He lived in Switzerland and Italy both before arriving in Paris, France, in 1770, where he was bankrupted (reportedly by pursuit of women and drunkenness).
