John Batty Tuke was educated at Edinburgh Academy and the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 1856, and belonged to a Quaker family with several generations resident in the East Riding of Yorkshire. One branch of the family founded the Retreat at York, the first hospital to adopt humane treatment of the insane. Following graduation, he sailed to New Zealand, where he was appointed Medical Officer in charge of colonial troops, serving during the Maori War.
