this subject of science very like our great artist Mr. Turner upon the subject of art: he has his later manner as well as his middle manner.'
Tooke was one of the earliest supporters of the free-trade movement, which first assumed a definite form in the petition of the merchants of the city of London presented to the House of Commons by Alexander Baring (afterwards Baron Ashburton) [q. v.] on 8 May 1820. This document, which contains an admirable statement of the principles of free trade, was drawn up by Tooke; and the circumstances which led to its preparation are described in the sixth volume of the 'History of Prices.' The substantial advances in the direction of free trade made by Lord Liverpool's government, especially after the accession of William Huskisson [q. v.] in 1828, were no doubt largely due to the effect produced by the petition; and it may fairly be claimed for it that it gave the first impulse towards that revision of our commercial policy which was the work of the next half-century.
It was to support the principles of the merchants' petition that Tooke, with Ricardo, Malthus, James Mill, and others, founded the Political Economy Club in April 1821. From the beginning he took a prominent part in its discussions, and continued to attend its meetings till within a few weeks of his death, his last recorded attendance being on 3 Dec. 1857.
Besides giving evidence on economic questions before several parliamentary committees, such as those of 1821 on agricultural depression and on foreign trade, of 1832, 1840, and 1848 on the Bank Acts, Tooke was a prominent member of the factories inquiry commission of 1833. He retired from active business on his own account in 1836, but was governor of the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation from 1840 to 1852, and was also chairman of the St. Katharine's Dock Company.
He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in March 1821, and correspondant de l'Institut de France (Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques) in February 1853. He resided in London at 12 Russell Square, afterwards in Richmond Terrace, and at 31 Spring Gardens, where he died on 26 Feb. 1858. He married, in 1802, Priscilla Combe, by whom he had three sons.
In the year after Tooke's death the Tooke professorship of economic science and statistics at King's College, London, was founded in his memory, the endowment being raised by public subscription. There is a watercolour sketch of Tooke in the office of the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation, and a portrait by Sir Martin Archer Shee is in the possession of his granddaughter, Mrs. Padwick, of the Manor House, Horsham.
[Tooke's writings; Parliamentary Papers, 1819–48; Proceedings of Political Economy Club, vol. iv.; Economist, March 1858; Athenæum, 1858, i. 306, 595.]
TOOKE, WILLIAM (1744–1820), historian of Russia, born on 29 or 30 Jan. 1744 (old style 18 Jan. 1743), was the second son of Thomas Tooke (1705–1773) of St. John's, Clerkenwell, by his wife Hannah, only daughter of Thomas Mann of St. James's, Clerkenwell, whom he married in 1738. The family claimed connection with Sir Bryan Tuke [q. v.] and George Tooke [q. v.] (Nichols, Lit. Anecdotes, ix. 164 et seq.).
William was educated at an academy at Islington kept by one John Shield. He soon turned his attention to literature, and in 1767 published an edition of Weever's 'Funeral Monuments' [see Weever, John]. In 1769 he issued in two volumes 'The Loves of Othniel and Achsah, translated from the Chaldee.' The 'translation' was merely a blind, and Tooke's object appears to have been to give an account of Chaldee philosophy and religion; he evinces an acquaintance with Hebrew. This was followed in 1772 by an edition of 'Mary Magdalen's Funeral Tears' by Robert Southwell [q. v.] In 1771 Tooke obtained letters of ordination both as deacon and priest from Bishop Terrick of London, and received from John Duncombe [q. v.] the offer of the living of West Thurrock, Essex, in the same year. This he declined on being appointed chaplain to the English church at Cronstadt. Three years later, on the resignation of Dr. John Glen King [q. v.], Tooke was invited by the English merchants at St. Petersburg to succeed him as chaplain there. In this position he made the acquaintance of many members of the Russian nobility and episcopate, and also of the numerous men of letters and scientists of all nationalities whom Catherine II summoned to her court (cf. Waliszewski, Autour d'un Trône: Catherine II, 1894, pp. 235 et seq.) He was a regular attendant at the annual diner de tolérance which the empress gave to the clergy of all denominations, and at which Gabriel, the metropolitan of Russia, used to preside (Tooke, Life of Catharine II, iii. 119). Among those whose acquaintance Tooke made was the French sculptor Falconet, then engaged on the statue of Peter the Great, and in 1777 he published 'Pieces written by Mons. Falconet and Mons. Diderot on Sculpture … translated from the
