• Name: Tooke, William
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: 1719
• Death Date: 25  September  1802

Benefactor to John Horne Tooke and active political reformer. William Tooke was also the uncle of Captain Harwood, who married the eldest daughter of Thomas Holcroft's, and his legacy to Harwood becomes the subject of a court case between Harwood and Burdett for Horne Tooke. The case was eventually settled in favour of Burdett.

It seems likely that Godwin made Tooke’s acquaintance in the 1790s, and would have been aware of him on the political scene before this. Entries for Tooke have been coded for William when the context makes it seem plausible, as in cases where he is dining at Horne Tooke’s; or when he is associated with Harwood, who lived with him prior to his marriage to Ann Holcroft. The 'Tooke' entries in 1790 are treated as being to Horne Tooke, because we have independent collaboration for Horne Tooke's presence (see Bewley, Gentleman Radical). So too is the 1792 meeting with Paine, since Horne Tooke and Paine were in close collaboration at this period. In contrast, the 1795 pair of dinners first at Batty's, then at Tooke's, involving Batty, Smirke, Amelia Alderson, and Miss Buck, are treated as referring to William Tooke, since it is not Horne Tooke's traditional night for inviting guests, nor is it his traditional circle.

Godwin records his death.

• David and Christina Bewley, Gentleman radical: a life of John Horne Tooke, 1736–1812 (London: Tauris Academic Studies, 1998), pp. 95-6.

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.