biography
| name: |
Tooke, John Horne
|
| |
originally John Horne
|
pronunciation:
[tuk]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1736–1812)
|
| biography:
| Radical politician, born in London, UK. He studied at Cambridge, and became a lawyer, and in 1760 a vicar. In 1771 he formed the Constitutional Society, supporting the American colonists and parliamentary reform. His spirited opposition to an enclosure bill procured him the favour of the rich Mr Tooke of Purley in Surrey, which led to his new surname and The Diversions of Purley (1786), written while in prison for supporting the US cause. He was tried for high treason in 1794, acquitted, and became an MP in 1801. |
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