GENEALOGY
I also have a longstanding interest in family history. I have traced the Tucker link
back to late 18th century Devon.
The details which follow outline the history of the family.
John Tucker married Mary Fry at St Mary's Church, Rockbeare, near Exeter, Devon,
on February 7th 1773. At that time they both lived at Rockbeare and may have been
born in the parish. John was probably 27 and Mary 23 at the time of their marriage.
Both partners were illiterate as both placed their marks in the marriage register in
front of John Vye, the vicar.
Between 1773 and 1789 seven children were born as follows...
1773 John (baptised Christmas Day 1773)
1776 Thomas I who died less than a year later(baptised Nov.5 1776 and buried
July 22 1777)
1778 Sarah (baptised August 23 1778)
1781 Hagar (baptised January 6 1782).In 1802 she gave birth to a
'base'son,William, at Rockbeare.
1784 Thomas II who died in 1792 at the age of 7 (baptised July 11 1784 and buried
March 13 1791)
1788 James, who provided our family line, was baptised on January 20 1788
1789 Abraham, who died in Rockbeare in 1827 at the age of 38 (baptised May 14
1789 and buried October 31 1827)
All these children were baptised at Rockbeare.
Both John and Mary Tucker died at Rockbeare; John in 1820 at the age of 74 (buried
April 4) and Mary nine years later at the age of 79 (buried August 9 1829). Mary was
living at the hamlet of Marsh Green in Rockbeare parish when she died.
James Tucker, the fifth child of John and Mary, married Ann Salter at St Mary's
Church, Rockbeare, on March 27, 1813. He was then aged 25 and his spouse,19.
Ann Salter had been born in Venn Ottery, southeast of Rockbeare, with Aylesbeare
lying between the two parishes. Like James' parents both partners were
illiterate at the time of their marriage. James was described as a'dairyman'of Marsh
Green, Rockbeare.
Between 1815 and 1830 six children were born as follows....
1815 John, who provided the direct line (baptised March 18 1815)
1816 Julia
1818 Marianne or Mary Ann. She was probably buried at Rockbeare on March 6
1856, although living at St David's, Exeter, at the time of her death.
1821 Sarah
1826 Harriet
1830 Thomas Salter Tucker, who was given his mother's maiden name as one of
his forenames. He died at the age of 12 and was buried at Rockbeare on Nov.
6 1842. Like his family he was still living at Marsh Green.
In 1851 James and Ann Tucker were still living at Marsh Green, Rockbeare. No
occupation was recorded for the sixty-three year old James. Their grand-daughter,
Mary Ann Quaintance, aged 9, a pauper child, was living with them at Marsh Green.
Mary Ann was the daughter of Julia Tucker (B 1816) who had married William
Quaintance in 1841. The child's presence in the house of the grandparents may be
partly explained by the death of the father in 1846. Ann Tucker died at Rockbeare
in 1858 ( buried April 18 aged 68) so by the time of the 1861 census James was a
widower still living at Marsh Green. Although aged 74 he was described as an
agricultural labourer. James was buried at Rockbeare on December 24 1865, aged
79, by Richard Podmore, the vicar. He was still at Marsh Green at the time of his death.
John Tucker, who was the eldest son of James and Ann (born 1815),married Jane
who was born in the neighbouring parish of Aylesbeare in 1818.
Between 1840 and 1857 eight children were born as follows.....
1840 Harriet (baptised Rockbeare June 7 1840) who died at Rockbeare four years
later (buried Rockbeare April 14 1844).
1842 Mary Ann (baptised June 19 1842)
1844 Harriet Fanny (baptised June 16 1844 at Rockbeare)
1846 James (baptised September 13 1846). Later married Elizabeth, who was
born at Winsford, Somerset, and became a farm labourer at Clayhanger,Devon.
Produced eight children.
1849 Thomas, who provided the direct line, my great grandfather. Baptised April
22 at Rockbeare but born at Aylesbeare according to a later census. Died 1925.
1851 John (baptised July 6 1851 at Rockbeare but probably born at Aylesbeare).
Later a labourer and woodman.
1854 Sarah Ann (baptised March 12 1854 at Rockbeare)
1857 Henry (baptised July 19 1857 at Huntsham but probably born Hockworthy,
Devon). Later a labourer who married Diahana (born Cheriton Fitzpaine,
Devon) and had five sons.
In 1851 John Tucker (B 1815) was living at Brickyard, Rockbeare and working as a
labourer. He had been living at the same place since the birth of his first child in 1840,
when he was also described as a labourer. Between the birth of Sarah Ann in 1854
and Henry in 1857 John and his family moved eighteen miles north to Wood End,
Huntsham, southeast of Bampton. In 1861 the census recorded three children living
with John and Jane - Thomas, John and Sarah Ann. John Arnold was also living
with them as an unmarried lodger,aged 53, born at Broadclyst. John Tucker senior
was described as an 'agricultural labourer'. In 1871 John and Jane were still at Wood
End with their youngest child, Henry, a 19 year old labourer. The same lodger may
still have lived in the house although now 'misspelt' as 'Hartnell;the age and place
of birth corrspond. In 1881 the 67 year old John was still at Huntsham with Jane and
Henry and their 10 year old grandson, Thomas the scholar, son of Thomas (B 1849).
John was a labourer and woodman. Ten years later John and Jane were still at
Huntsham, this time at Hayes cottage. By this time Henry had 'flown the nest' but
Thomas the grandson still lived with them. Although aged 77 John was still described
as a 'labourer'.
Thomas Tucker, the direct line and the fifth child of John and Jane Tucker, moved
from Rockbeare to Huntsham with his parents in the 1850s. In 1861 he was an
eleven year old scholar living at Wood End, Hutsham, with his parents. On August
10th 1871 Thomas Tucker married Jane Redwood; she was 28 years old, he 22.
Jane was born in Lydeard St Lawrence, Somerset, although the register states that
both partners were 'of Clayhanger'. The marriage took place at Clayhanger, the
neighbouring parish to Huntsham. Earlier that year the census had identified him as
a live-in blacksmith at East Clayhanger, working and living with John Hill, a 44 year
old wheelwright employing three men. In the same house was Susan, the wheel-
-wright's wife and six of their children. Jane was illiterate - her mark appears on son
Ernest's birth certificate in 1885. Before their marriage Jane Redwood had given
birth to an illegitimate daughter, Bessie, who was living with Thomas and Jane at
Church Street, Clayhanger, in 1881. Bessie was described as a 'domestic nurse
maid' born in the parish.Also living with the family in 1881 was Jane's father, John
Redwood, then a widower aged 78, who worked as an agricultural labourer and was
born in Ashbrittle, Somerset.
Between 1871 and 1892 Thomas and Jane Tucker produced eleven children as
follows.....
1871 Thomas (baptised November 12 1871). Worked for Sir Gilbert Acland-Troyt
at Huntsham Court. Later a gardener at Bournemouth.
1873 Henry (baptised June 1 1873). Married Elizabeth Sprague from Hockworthy
in 1896. Left Clayhanger for Morebath. Was born on the day that the Taunton
and Barnstaple Railway opened. Originally a farm worker but became a bailiff
at Fleed's Farm, Clayhanger. During the First World War he worked for the
Government cutting timber and bailing hay on various farms. Died in March
(?) 1942.
1875 John, later known as 'Jack' (baptised July 11 1875). Married Rose Sprague
in 1904. Lived Firway Cottage, Morebath. Buried c1940 in Morebath church-
yard. Was Head Forester/Woodman for Morebath Manor Estate owned by
the Rothwell family.
1877 William (baptised December 25 1877). Married Elizabeth Warren in 1899. Was
a tenant farmer at Venn Cross. Married into a strong chapel family.
1881 Mary Ellen (baptised September 11 1881). Known as 'Nell'. Married a Curtis
who was a farm worker. Lived Clayhanger and buried there.
1882 Annie. Married Henry Hardacre in 1899.
1883 Jane (baptised September 16 1883)
1885 Ernest, my paternal grandfather (born September 11, baptised September
27 1885). Married Annie Yard (?) and, later, Lucy Ann Pike.
1887 Emily Ada (baptised April 9 1887). Married Sidney Coles.
1887 Margaret (baptised August 11 1887)
1892 Florence Elizabeth (baptised February 14 1892)
A photograph of Thomas Tucker...
Between 1871 and 1877, when his first four children were born, Thomas was
described as a 'blacksmith of Clayhanger' in the baptismal register. By the birth of
Mary Ellen in 1881 he had become a 'railway servant' or 'railway labourer'. The
Taunton to Barnstaple railway line had been built just to the north at Clayhanger
with a station at Venn Cross. It is believed that Thomas Tucker helped to cut the
railway line. His son Henry used to get up early in the morning to help him to make
nails and bolts for men laying the track each day. The story was handed down from
Thomas that carters with donkeys hauled the stone for the Waterrow viaduct. One
donkey died and was buried in one of the pillars. The first train ran along the line on
November 1st 1873. In 1881 Thomas and his family were living at Church Street,
Clayhanger. The baptismal records from 1881 to 1892 continued to refer to Thomas
as a 'railway servant' although the 1891 census had referred to him as a 'railway
packer'. The latter term had also been used on Ernest's birth certificate in 1885. In
1891 he was living in the 'Village', Clayhanger, with Jane and six of his eleven
children - Annie, Mary, Jane, Ernest, Emily and Margaret. In 1896 when Henry, his
second eldest, married Thomas was once again described as a blacksmith. His
association with the railway continued and, as late as 1923, when Ernest married for
the second time the marriage certificate described Thomas as a 'platelayer'. Later in
life Thomas Tucker lived in a cottage at Petton on the main road east of Bampton, where
he died c1925. He was buried in Petton churchyard. Thomas established or carried on
a family tradition of liking cats. He trained his cats to perform around a stick.
Ernest Tucker was born in 1885. As the youngest of five sons he was everyone's
favourite and regarded as a 'bit of a lad'. He used to visit his brothers 'Harry' and
'Jack' at Morebath. He was great friends with Bill Gregory and they used to drive
round in a hired car to visit everybody with some of the family in it. Charlie Warren
was the driver. Ernest rarely missed Bampton Fair, a pony fair with sheep and
bullocks driven in from the Moors. Ernest Tucker's later life was marred by family
tragedies. In 1904 he was living at Huntsham and working in the gardens at Huntsham
Court. He used to put leather boots on the donkey which helped to cut the lawns.
As a boy c1930 his son remembers returning to visit Huntsham Court with his father
who still knew the gardeners there. He also remembers the peaches in the
greenhouse.
Before the First World War he had married Annie Yard. All four of their children died
young. For example, Gertrude Annie, their daughter, was baptised at Langford
Budville,Somerset, on August 2 1914. The word 'died' was written in the margin of the
baptismal register. On July 15 1918 Millicent Violet was baptised at Langford ,also
with the word 'died' added. The local newspaper reported that Millicent had died on
July 31st, aged one month. The last child Jack was buried at Langford on November
18 1918 from 'influenza and pneumonia'. He was aged eight year eleven months.
At Christmas local members of the Agricultural Labourers Union raised a subscrip-
-tion to help the grieving parents. A year later further disaster struck. On November
29 1919 Annie Tucker died aged 31. The Wellington Weekly News stated that in a
"period of less than five years he (Ernest) had lost all four of his children, his mother,
a sister and now his wife. In addition he has been burnt out of house and home.
There can be few men in the district who have had such a chapter of misfortunes. At
the time of his wife's death Ernest was living at Gundenham, a small hamlet on the
road to Wellington. It is not clear when he had decided to leave Huntsham to cross the
county border into Somerset. It may have been around the year 1913. His adopted
village of Langford Budville only had a population of 351 in 1911.
In 1923 Ernest Tucker married for the second time, when he married Lucy Ann
Pike. Lucy Ann was born in Langford Budville, Somerset, on November 2 1886, the
daughter of Samuel Pike, an agricultural labourer from Uffculme in Devon (born
1849), and Anne Pike, born at Hemyock, Devon in 1852. At the time of the 1881 census
the Pike family lived at Stones Cottage, Langford Budville. Ernest was 38 when he
remarried and was recorded as a 'farm employee' of Gundenham, Langford Budville.
He had not served in the First World War as his farm work was an important
occupation during wartime. During this time he worked at Middle Chipley Farm,
mainly with sheep. On April 6 1924 the only child of Ernest and Lucy Ann was born -
Samuel Thomas Tucker, my father (baptised January 4 1925). Interestingly the
Reverend Swainson wrote the word 'Chapel' in pencil in the margin of the baptismal
register. Ernest was still a farm labourer and still at living at Gundenham. In 1926 he
was able to move his new family into the first of the new Council houses built at
Langford Budville (1, Reynolds). During the Depression Ernest supplemented his
wages by acting as verger to the parish church at Langford Budville. His duties
included grave-digging.
After he retired from farm work he became a gardener at Langford Court where I can
remember him at work in the mid-1950s. Ernest's son and daughter-in-law, my mother,
also lived at 1, Reynolds after their marriage in 1948. On May 26 1955 Lucy Ann Tucker
died and a year later Ernest moved to Old Halls, North Street,Milverton with his son's
family. Ernest died there on January 1 1961.
Ernest Tucker below at the time of his second marriage in 1923.
Samuel Thomas Tucker, my father, popularly known as'Tommy', was born on
April 6 1924 at Langford Budville. His parents were living at Gundenham at the
time. By 1946 but probably much earlier the family had moved to the council
houses built under the 1924 Wheatley Act at number 1,Reynolds. 'Tommy'
attended the local village school and probably left to work at Fox's woollen
factory at nearby Wellington. He joined the Royal Navy on October 28 1942,
still 18 years old. He stood 5 feet 5 inches high with brown hair and blue
eyes. During his period of service he served on the Raleigh, the Drake, Quebec
and H.M.S. Copra (the latter from August 1943 until demob in May 1946) as an
ordinary and, then, able-bodied seaman. He became a leading signaller.When
demobbed the Copra was stationed at Largs, Ayrshire in Scotland.
Tommy Tucker R.N.
Upon return to Langford Budville'Tommy' married my mother, Eunice Charlotte
Hayes(born September 1 1923), who lived in the same village, at the local church
on July 17 1948. As her father was no longer alive my mother was given away by
her brother, Ernest.
Jimmy Hayes, maternal grandfather, during the First World War
Within a year I was born - July 14 1949 and three years later my brother, Michael -
June 16 1952. We both took our middle names from our respective grandfathers - in
my case Ernest, James for my brother.
At some time after his marriage 'Tommy' became a painter for Wellington
Rural District Council. In 1956 the family moved to Milverton, having purchased
'Old Halls' in North Street, a large house with three acres of walled gardens and
orchard - ideal for the project of conversion into a market garden as a side-line
as well as the rearing of chickens and pigs. My mother died at Old Halls on
October 26 1970, aged only 47, and did not live to see the completion of the
new home - a bungalow built in the grounds on the site of an old tennis court,
now known as New Halls. In 1987 'Tommy' left Milverton to join his sons at
Solihull in the West Midlands. In later life he became an avid supporter of
Somerset County Cricket Club. On the night of 15/16 May 1993 he died
whilst staying at Lovelinch Farm, Milverton, having seen Somerset beat
Lancashire in two days. Peter Anderson, the Chief Executive of the club,
paid tribute at the funeral held at Taunton Deane Crematorium.