A Radical MP at Brandenburgh House: John Horne Tooke

John Horne Tooke, portrait by Thomas Hardy.

John Horne Tooke was one of the most controversial and radical MPs of the Georgian era. We know, from her Memoirs, that Elizabeth Craven was friendly with John Wilkes, so it is not altogether surprising to discover that Horne Tooke also turned up from time to time at Brandenburgh House when she lived there with her second husband, the Margrave of Anspach.

    Horne Tooke was an indefatigable campaigner for electoral reform, whose support for the independence of the American colonies got him jailed for seditious libel in 1778. Nothing daunted, he went on advocating radical ideas during the period of the French Revolution, something so alarming to those in power that he was tried for treason in 1794. If convicted, he would certainly have been hanged. Luckily, he was acquitted.

         Shortly afterwards, he went to one of Craven's theatrical productions at her private theatre in Hammersmith. Samuel Rogers tells us:-

         "One night after dining with him at Cline's (the surgeon), I accompanied Tooke to Brandenburgh House (the Margravine of Anspach's) to see a private play. During the performance, a person behind us said, “ There's that rascal, Horne Tooke.” The words were uttered quite distinctly; and Tooke was so offended, that he immediately withdrew. I went home with him to his house on the Common, and slept there, after sitting up very late to listen to his delightful talk."

In her Memoirs, Craven remember how Horne Tooke defended himself at his treason trial against some of the greatest lawyers of the time, and she gives the impression that she was there in the courtroom:-

When Horne Tooke pleaded his own cause before Lord Mansfield, Thurlow on the trial sought to surprise him, while Kenyon endeavoured to overpower him by argument; but Tooke exhibited such talents as defeated their united attacks. Kenyon never forgave Tooke, and died in enmity with him; but Thurlow, whose manliness of character was equal to the vigour of his understanding, called on Tooke at Wimbledon, in the year 1802. “Mr. Tooke," said he, “I have only one recollection which gives me pain.”
" You are a fortunate man, my lord,” replied Tooke, “ for you have been Attorney-General, and Lord Chancellor, and Keeper of the King's Conscience."

 “As Attorney-General, replied Thurlow, “I must confess to you, that I was prevailed on to act against you, and against my own feelings, for I had always an esteem and friendship for you."

"I am aware of it, my lord: I was with you the day before the prosecution against me was expected to come on, for a libel on the King's troops in America, and at that time you made me a promise to perform your duty with impartiality, and without rancour. Notwithstanding this, as if forgetful of your intentions, and, as if influenced by magic, you laboured with all your might to convict me."
"It is true, Mr. Tooke,” said Thurlow. “I acknowledge it, and I lament it. So now good morning, and farewell.” 
"Stay, my lord,” said Tooke, “if I could not escape you at that time, you shall not escape me now.”
" What is your meaning ?” exclaimed Thurlow. "I fear no man on earth, nor shall you threaten me with impunity.”

 “I mean, my lord, that you shall stay and dine with me."

“ No, I will come to-morrow.” He kept his word, and they remained friends during his life.

Craven could have got this anecdote either from Thurlow, whom she knew well, or from Horne Tooke himself. She evidently knew him well because she gives a complete pen-portrait of his extraordinary character:-

   "I have seen a great deal of Horne Tooke. He was one of the most extraordinary men I ever met with. The dictionary of Johnson was, perhaps, as stupendous a production as ever came before the world : it is a monument of human industry; but it was for Tooke to penetrate into that labyrinth of confusion, from whence the English language was derived. The “ Diversions of Purley" establish his reputation as a most profound scholar, and his illustrations, though mostly political, are proofs of the greatest talents.     His knowledge of the British Constitution was equal to that of any lawyer; and when he pleaded his own cause before Lord Mansfield, he asked so many questions with such apparent ignorance, and such assumed modesty, that he entrapped his Lordship into contradictory answers, and led him into great embarrassment, by the animadversions that he made, in consequence of the means taken to throw him off his guard. It was allowed, that on this account Lord Mansfield interfered with the Benchers of the Temple, to induce them to refuse Tooke's application to be called to the Bar. His knowledge was feared, his erudition was envied, and his rancour dreaded and abhorred. 

    Tooke's character was a compound of every thing that could be combined in human nature. He took a peculiar delight in searching for errors and blemishes; and where he discovered them, his fertile imagination enlarged them into every species of mental deformity, and his acrimony changed them into corruption. The singularity of his disposition made him neither an enemy to vice, nor a friend to virtue. He would see the one oppressed, and the other extolled, without any sensations but those which might create an occasion for him to take advantage of either. Tooke himself was oppressed and attacked by all the powers of the law; he was dreaded as a public, and detested as a private man. His feelings might have been exasperated by the circumstances under which he had placed himself. In his private concerns he was greatly embarrassed, and, I believe, he was greatly assisted by the liberality of his friend Sir Francis Burdett; but he had no gratitude : he reviled those who served him."

This is what Britannica has to say about him:-

John Horne Tooke, original name John Horne, (born June 25, 1736, London, Eng.—died March 18, 1812, Wimbledon, Surrey), radical politician, one of the most effective English agitators for parliamentary reform and freedom of dissent in the late 18th century. He attacked the powerful Whig magnates but stopped short of advocating democracy.

Born John Horne, the son of a poultry dealer, he assumed (1782) the additional surname Tooke to honour his friend and benefactor William Tooke. He graduated from the University of Cambridge and, in 1760, became a vicar. In 1769 he helped the embattled radical John Wilkes found the Society for the Supporters of the Bill of Rights, but two years later he broke with Wilkes and created his own Constitutional Society to agitate for parliamentary reform and self-government for the American colonies.

Horne’s outspoken support of the colonists led to his conviction and imprisonment (1778) for seditious libel. From 1782 to 1785 he rallied public support behind William Pitt’s unsuccessful attempts to obtain reforms of Parliament. When the revolutionary events in France prompted the British government to suppress radicals, Horne Tooke was arrested in May 1794 and charged with high treason. Six months later he was acquitted by a London jury. The radical movement was dispersed by the end of the century, but Horne Tooke gained a seat in Parliament in 1801. An enthusiastic philologist, he was among the first to regard language as a product of historical development rather than as a fixed structure.


Recollections of the Table-talk of Samuel Rogers: To which is Added Porsoniana

By Samuel Rogers  page 127.

To find out more about Elizabeth Craven read:-