Thomas Harrington Tuke

FRCPE The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

FRCP (13 June 1826 - 1888) was a British physician who specialised in psychiatry. He ran and enlarged the private Manor House Asylum in

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...

(founded by his father Edward Francis Tuke), published papers on general paralysis and related topics, and contributed to the development of lunacy legislation in

Victorian England In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

. Tuke specialised in non-restraint treatment.

Early life

Thomas Harrington Tuke was born 13 June 1826, the son of the

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

physician Edward Francis Tuke of Bristol and his wife Mary. He studied medicine at

St George's Hospital St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals and one of the largest hospitals in Europe. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundatio ...

; and also at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

and Paris. Tuke took a

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

MD qualification in 1849.

Career

Tuke specialised in the treatment of the insane with non-restraint methods. In 1846 he took over and began to extend the private Manor House asylum in Chiswick founded by his father. How far he expanded the asylum can be seen in the 1880 rate book. Not only did he own Manor Farm House, he was also renting 2 halves of a semi-detached house and the land behind it, plus another cottage, house and some more land. In 1893 the Tukes moved out of the cottage, house and land and it became the ABC estate. In 1894 they moved out of the semi-detached houses which became part of Cranbrook Road on the Sulhamstead Estate, the houses they rented were knocked down much later and they became Stephen Fox House. In 1896 Manor Farm House was sold and it became Wilton Avenue. He was the first to introduce nasogastric feeding of the insane. He was a Fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

(1858) and of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

in London (1878). He was secretary of the

Medico-Psychological Association The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom, and is responsible for representing psychiatrists, for psychiatric research and for providing public information about mental health ...

and testified before select committees of the

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on amendments to the lunacy laws. Tuke was an experienced psychiatric witness and took part in the William Frederick Windham case (in which he took a position contrary to Dr Forbes Benignus Winslow), in the divorce action against Lady Mordaunt, and in the

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and George Victor Townley cases. His most famous patient was probably the Chartist leader

Feargus O'Connor Feargus Edward O'Connor (18 July 1796 – 30 August 1855) was an Irish Chartist leader and advocate of the Land Plan, which sought to provide smallholdings for the labouring classes. A highly charismatic figure, O'Connor was admired for his ...

Family

In January 1852, Tuke married Sophia Jane Conolly, daughter of Tuke's friend and teacher Dr John Conolly of The Lawn,

Hanwell Hanwell () is a town in the London Borough of Ealing, in the historic County of Middlesex, England. It is about 1.5 miles west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post t ...

. Conolly was a pioneer in non-restraint methods of treatment of the insane.A hundred years of caring for the insane.
Julia Nurse,

Wellcome Library The Wellcome Library is founded on the collection formed by Sir Henry Wellcome (1853–1936), whose personal wealth allowed him to create one of the most ambitious collections of the 20th century. Henry Wellcome's interest was the history of med ...

, 7 August 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015. Tuke and his wife had seven sons and a daughter. Two of their sons Thomas Seymour and Charles Molesworth Tuke, both doctors, continued running the asylum and supervised its move to

Chiswick House Chiswick House is a Neo-Palladian style villa in the Chiswick district of London, England. A "glorious" example of Neo-Palladian architecture in west London, the house was designed and built by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694–1753 ...

in 1893, where it remained until its closure in 1929.

Death

Tuke died in 1888. He was buried in Chiswick on 13 June.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuke, Thomas 1826 births 1888 deaths 19th-century British medical doctors Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh British Quakers British psychiatrists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of St Andrews