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 set the specialty (medicine), specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was establish ...

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 in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...

(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 reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed th ...

. 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 the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

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

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; and also at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and Paris. Tuke took a

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

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 set the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by royal charter i ...

(1858) and of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...

in London (1878). He was secretary of the Medico-Psychological Association 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 Chartism, 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 ...

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. It is about west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post town. Hanwell is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. St ...

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

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, 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 History of mental health in the United Kingdom British Quakers British psychiatrists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of St Andrews