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.

Horne Tooke, John (1736–1812). A man of many parts (clergyman, philologist, and wit), Tooke carried the radicalism of the 1760s into the early 19th cent. His legal and organizational talents were first apparent in his vigorous championing of Wilkes. His subsequent support for the American colonists led to a prison sentence. In 1781 he joined the Society for Constitutional Information, which he soon dominated; and in 1792 assisted in the formation of the London Corresponding Society. He was tried for high treason in 1794 and acquitted.

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.