John Horne Tooke

John Horne Tooke

John Horne Tooke 1736–1812, English radical politician and philologist. Born John Horne, he adopted the name Tooke in 1782 after being designated heir to the estate of a rich friend, William Tooke. He became (1760) an Anglican priest but soon abandoned his clerical duties for politics. He was a strong supporter of John Wilkes until 1771, when he broke with him and founded the Constitutional Society to promote parliamentary reform and support for the American colonists. He was fined and imprisoned (1778) for attempting to raise funds to aid the victims of the government "murder" at Lexington and Concord. In 1794, in a period of repression of radical agitation, Tooke was tried for treason but acquitted. In 1801 he was elected to Parliament, but in the same year the government passed an act (specifically directed against him) that disqualified clergy from sitting in the House of Commons. Tooke's later years were devoted to literary pursuits. His Epea Pteroenta, or the Diversions of Purley (1786–1805) was an early attempt at scientific language study.

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Tooke, John Horne

Tooke, John Horne (1736–1812) British radical politician and philologist. In 1769 Tooke founded the Society of Supporters of the BILL OF RIGHTS, which was largely designed to pay John WILKES's debts and get him into Parliament. In 1771 he founded the Constitutional Society to agitate for British parliamentary reform and self-government for the American colonists. After the Battle of LEXINGTON AND CONCORD, he associated himself with a denunciation of the British forces there as murderers, for which he was imprisoned. He supported the independent Whigs under William PITT the Younger against the rival Whig faction of Charles FOX from 1783 until 1790, but the French Revolution led to public hostility to reformers, and as a leading member of the LONDON CORRESPONDING SOCIETY he was tried for treason but was acquitted in 1794.

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"Tooke, John Horne." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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Tooke, John Horne

Tooke, John Horne (1736–1812), radical politician who vigorously supported Wilkes in connection with the Middlesex election. His principal work Ἔπεα πτερόεντα, or the Diversions of Purley (1786–1805, two volumes of a planned three), established his reputation as a philologist; but its philosophical approach to language and grammar, and its wildly speculative etymologies, delayed for decades, it has been alleged, the introduction of the new and sounder philology from the Continent.

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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Tooke, John Horne." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Tooke, John Horne." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-TookeJohnHorne.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Tooke, John Horne." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-TookeJohnHorne.html

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John Horne Tooke

John Horne Tooke see Tooke, John Horne .

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"John Horne Tooke." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"John Horne Tooke." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-X-HorneToo.html

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

The Prison Diary: 16 May-22 November 1794, of John Horne Tooke.
Magazine article from: The Australian Journal of Politics and History; 6/22/1997
Gentleman Radical: A Life of John Horne Tooke 1736-1812.(Review)
Magazine article from: The Australian Journal of Politics and History; 9/1/2000
John Horne Tooke and the Grammar of Political Experience.
Magazine article from: Philological Quarterly; 3/22/1998

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