Thomas Henry Tucker was born about 1897, the son of John Henry Tucker (c.1864-1950). His mother died and his widower father was remarried on 11 November 1905 to Rosanah Louisa Jane Plummer (1883-1949) at St Saviours Church, Paddington, London, where the marriage register shows the family were living at 125 Kilburn Park Road, Paddington.
He was shown as aged 14 years and telegraph messenger employed at West End Lane, Kilburn, London, on the census return form completed by his father on 2 April 1911. He was living in three rooms within 171 Kilburn Park Road, Paddington, with his father, his stepmother and his half sister Amy Florence Tucker (b.1907). His father described himself as a hall porter and claimed that his wife became partially blind four years earlier.
In May 1913 he was appointed as an assistant postman in the London Postal Service and was promoted in September 1916 to the grade of postman in London’s Western District Office.
He enlisted in the army at Bloomsbury, London and initially served as a Private in the East Surrey Regiment, service number 5296. He was later transferred to the 9th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, service number 41335, before moving to their 11th Battalion. He was presumed dead on 20 April 1918, aged 21 years. On 19 June 1919 his father received his army effects of £7-17s-3d together with a war gratuity of £8-10s-0d. He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.
His body was located in 1922 in Trench Grave 46 in the Le Menengate German Cemetery, Groenestraat 129, 8930 Menen, Belgium and was exhumed and reburied in the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, 5000F Rue Carnot, 62153 Souchez, France. Whilst his headstone has been , it bears the inscription ‘Buried near this spot’.
He is shown as 'TUCKER, T.H.' on the Western Postal District war memorial in Mount Pleasant, London, WC1. He is also commemorated on the , on the , on the , on the , on the and on .
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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