was formed to adminster ‘Mr. Tuke's Fund,’ and 9,000l. was subscribed to carry out a comprehensive scheme of ‘family emigration.’ By 4 April 1882 Tuke was again in Ireland, and within a few weeks twelve hundred emigrants had been sent to America at a cost of nearly 9,000l. On his return to England he demonstrated the vehement desire on the part of the people for further assistance (Nineteenth Century, July 1882). His committee then prevailed on the government to insert a clause in the Arrears of Rent (Ireland) Act granting 100,000l. to further assist family emigration from Ireland. Part of this sum was expended by government, and the rest was entrusted to Tuke's committee for expenditure in Mayo and Galway. In 1883 the number of emigrants was 5,380. Owing to the continued demand for emigration, the ‘Tuke Committee’ next obtained from government under the Tramways (Ireland) Act of 1883 a further grant, by means of which, during 1884, 2,800 persons emigrated, making about 9,500 in all. The labour involved in this work was enormous, and it was largely carried out during severe winter weather, in districts which lacked railway communication. Tuke personally superintended most of the work, which included the selection of suitable families, arrangements for their necessary clothing, their conveyance to the port of embarkation (often a distance of fifty miles by road or boat), as well as their reception on landing in the United States or colonies, and their conveyance to their destinations. The total expenditure of the ‘Tuke Fund’ amounted to 70,000l., nearly one-third of which was raised by private subscription. Of the beneficent results of this work Tuke subsequently published conclusive evidence (Nineteenth Century, February 1885 and March 1889).
In the winter of 1885–6 distress again became acute in some of the western districts, owing to failure of the potato crop. The conservative government made a relief grant, but appealed to Tuke to avert famine by supplying seed potatoes, a request which was repeated by the succeeding liberal government. Tuke raised by private subscription a sum of 5,000l., with which seed potatoes were purchased and distributed under his personal supervision. His ‘Report of the Distribution’ of this fund contained some ‘Suggestions for the Relief of the Districts’ (London, 8vo, 1886). These and his letters to the ‘Times’ (reprinted in the form of a pamphlet, entitled ‘The Condition of Donegal,’ London, royal 8vo, 1889) again pointed out the measures he deemed necessary for the permanent improvement of the ‘congested districts.’ His recommendations bore fruit in 1889, when the government passed a bill for promoting the construction of light railways, and again when the Irish Land Act, 1891, established the ‘Congested Districts Board,’ with an income of 40,000l. a year, having for its object the continuous development of these districts. Tuke was closely associated with the planning of both these measures, which realised nearly all that he had advocated, and the results have proved most satisfactory. Until 1894, when his health failed, he was an active member of the board (which is composed of unpaid commissioners, presided over by the chief secretary), and he visited Ireland every month to attend its meetings.
In 1884 the committees of both the Athenæum and Reform clubs elected Tuke a member honoris causa. It was largely through his efforts that the ‘Emigrants' Information Office,’ a department of the colonial office, was established in 1886. He was more than once invited to stand for the parliamentary representation of York, an honour which he declined, as his father also had done, for personal reasons. He died on 13 Jan. 1896, and was buried at Hitchin.
Of slight erect figure, and of medium height, Tuke possessed an unusual grace and courtesy of manner and an almost magnetic influence over others. The unique position which he held may be inferred from the fact that, for the last sixteen years of his life, his advice on nearly all Irish questions was sought by the chief secretaries of both political parties. If it is too much to say that, in economic matters, their policy was his, it is at least true that almost all he advocated was in the end carried out. Still more striking is the fact that, although an Englishman and a valued adviser of the English government in Irish matters in the most stormy times, his personal integrity was never, and the wisdom of his projects was seldom, called in question by Irishmen of any political party.
Tuke was twice married: first, in 1848, to Elizabeth, daughter of Edmund Janson of Tottenham, who died in 1869; and secondly, in 1882, to Mary Georgina, daughter of Evory Kennedy, D.L., of Belgard, who proved an able helper in his work.
[Tuke's writings; special information and personal knowledge.]
TUKE, Sir SAMUEL (d. 1674), royalist and playwright, third son of George Tuke of Frayling, Essex, was admitted to Gray's Inn on 14 Aug. 1635, at the same time as his eldest brother, George Tuke (Fos-
