Author

Samuel Tuke

1784-1857 · English Quaker philanthropist and reformer of care for the mentally ill

About Samuel Tuke

Samuel Tuke (1784-1857) was an English Quaker reformer and philanthropist from the York family that founded the Retreat for the mentally ill. His 1813 account publicized the Retreat as a model of moral treatment, domestic order, and religiously inflected care. The book became central to British and American asylum reform.

Notable works

Description of the Retreat (1813)
Practical Hints on the Construction and Economy of Pauper Lunatic Asylums (1815)

On this site

Description of the Retreat

Samuel Tuke

1813 · 19th Century · History

Tuke describes the York Retreat, a Quaker institution founded after scandals in local madhouse care, as an alternative to fear, neglect, and routine coercion. The book gives the Retreat a history, an architecture, a daily rhythm, and a theory of treatment.

high medical relevanceMadness / Mind Illness / Body Faith / Religion