Horne, John (1760-1773)

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VENN
Adm. sizar (age 18) at ST JOHN'S, Jan. 12, 1754. [3rd] s. of John, poulterer [of Newport Market, Leicester Square, London. B. June 25, 1736, in Newport Street, Westminster]. Schools [Westminster and] Eton. ' Matric. Michs. 1754; Scholar; B.A. 1758; M.A. 1771 [opposed in the Senate, but finally carried; see St John's Coll. Adm. III. 622]. The well-known politician and philologist. Adm. at the Inner Temple, Nov. 9, 1756. Ord. deacon (Canterbury) Sept. 23, 1759; priest (Salisbury) Nov. 23, 1760. P.C. of St Lawrence, New Brentford, 1760-73. Took up the cause of John Wilkes, supporting him in the famous Parliamentary election in Middlesex. Drawn into the vortex of political controversy and engaged in a long dispute with Wilkes; broke away, and formed the Constitutional Society, 1771. Became unpopular and burnt in effigy by the mob, 1771. Resigned his benefice and returned to law studies, 1773. Fined and imprisoned for libel in connection with an appeal to raise a subscription for widows and orphans of American colonists, 1778. Refused admission to the Bar. Inheriting some money, lived in London, giving famous suppers and engaging in political discussions. Assumed the additional name of Tooke, as heir to his friend Mr William Tooke, 1782. A supporter of Parliamentary reform; unsuccessfully contested Westminster in 1790, and again, 1796. Arrested on a charge of high treason, and committed to the Tower (for his diary while in prison, see Notes and Queries, Ser. XI., 8); tried and acquitted, 1794. Hostile to the Whig aristocracy. M.P. for Old Sarum, 1801-2; not excluded, but an Act was passed making clergymen ineligible for future Parliaments. Succeeding to the estate of Mr William Tooke, at Purley, Surrey, took up his residence there, 1803, and received much society, including Thurlow, Erskine, Bentham, Coleridge and Godwin. A complex personality, who rendered unquestionable service to the cause of public justice and popular rights. His undoubted consistency mainly responsible for his unpopularity with time-serving politicians. Author, The Diversions of Purley, a philological work of merit and value, and of other books, chiefly political. Died Mar. 18, 1812, at Wimbledon. Buried at Ealing. (Eton Coll. Reg.; St John's Coll. Adm., III. 621; Inns of Court; D.N.B.; Gunning, I. 242-4.)

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