Horne Tooke, John

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Horne Tooke, John (1736–1812). A man of many parts (clergyman, philologist, conversationalist, and wit) who 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. Although twice unsuccessful, his contest of the Westminster elections helped to prepare the way for the radical triumphs of 1807. Tooke's radicalism, like that of Cartwright and others, was based on belief in an ancient constitution which had become corrupted, thus denying the traditional rights and freedoms of Englishmen.

John F. C. Harrison

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John Horne Tooke

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