Horne Tooke

Horne Tooke (1736-1812) was initially a minister in the Church of England. He entered the political scene as a result of his support of the controversial populist John Wilkes during the famous Middlesex election of 1768. By 1771 Tooke’s support of Wilkes had lessened considerably, and he and several other former associates of Wilkes formed the first Constitutional Society. His subsequent public quarrels with Wilkes resulted in Tooke’s loss of church preferment and popular support. He spent a year in jail for his opposition to the war with the American colonies, and after repeated failed attempts to gain entrance to the bar, he received an inheritance from his father that enabled him to live somewhat comfortably. He remained a political agitator, however, joining the Society for Constitutional Information (the successor to his earlier Constitutional Society) in 1780, pushing relentlessly for a reform of parliament and the protection of the rights of citizens and the curtailment of aristocratic privilege. He lost to Charles James Fox in the election for Westminster in 1790, but continued to attend the meetings of the Society, which openly sympathized with the French Revolution. He was arrested in May 1794, along with John Thelwall, Thomas Hardy, and several others, for treason, but was acquitted in December of that year.  He served as an M.P. briefly in 1801-1802 before retiring to his house in Wimbledon, where he died in 1812.