Henry Tucker (1793 – 26 August 1850) was a Royal Navy officer who made significant contributions as the first Colonial Storekeeper in the nascent Colony of New Zealand.[1]

Early life

Henry Tucker entered Royal Navy service at the Plymouth Yard on 29 November 1802, starting as a shipwright apprentice under the Master Measurer. He completed his apprenticeship on December 14, 1811, and subsequently became the Clerk to the Master Measurer, a role he held until 1822.[2] This position required exceptional literacy and numeracy skills, giving Tucker deep insights into the Royal Navy’s logistical operations..

On 16 November 1817, Tucker married Elizabeth Howell (1795-1844) in South Wraxall, Wiltshire, England.[3] It is known that their union produced a daughter, Emma Mary, born in 1829[4], and a son, William, born on 5 January 1843.[5] They had two children: a daughter, Emma Mary, born in 1829, and a son, William, born on 5 January 1843. After Elizabeth’s death on 16 December 1844, Tucker remarried on 20 December 1845 to Emily Shell. His son William became a farmer, soldier, politician, and mayor of Gisborne, New Zealand.

With a wife to support, Tucker likely saw a career as a Purser as a profitable and logical path of advancement. At that time, Pursers were warranted by the Admiralty but did not require professional qualifications. [6] However, some financial surety was needed, which Tucker had built up over 20 years as a Clerk to a Master Measurer. The duties of a Purser included overseeing the supply and distribution of victuals, slops, and other consumables. As one of the five standing officers on a ship (officers permanently assigned to a vessel), the Purser had numerous opportunities to enrich himself, often at the crew’s expense. For example, William Bligh of HMS Bounty fame served as his own Purser, with the actual work falling to his clerk.[7] Royal Navy regulations required aspiring Pursers to serve at least one year as a captain’s clerk, a role Tucker completed on HMS Calliope. In 1825, he was promoted to the rank of Purser and Paymaster.[9]

In 1828, Tucker served as the Purser aboard HMS Icarus, an 18-gun brig-sloop stationed with the Royal Navy Barbados Station in the Caribbean. The ship undertook anti-piracy and anti-slavery patrols during this time.

In 1840, Tucker was the Purser and Paymaster on HMS Buffalo. While anchored in Mercury Bay off Whitianga, the ship, loaded with Kauri spars, was wrecked in a storm on 28 July 1840. [10] Due to New Zealand’s remoteness at that time, Tucker and the rest of the crew were stranded in New Zealand.

Career in New Zealand

Six months before the wreck of the Buffalo and the stranding of its crew, New Zealand had become a Crown Colony separate from New South Wales. Governor William Hobson saw the stranding as an opportunity and interviewed members of the stranded crew, offering them discharges from the Royal Navy if they would remain in New Zealand to help build the new colony.[11] Tucker, who had become acquainted with Hobson on the outward journey from England to Australia, was offered the position of Colonial Storekeeper.[12] He accepted the position and served from 19 December 1840 until 1844 when the post was cancelled. Several other members of the Buffalo’s crew also stayed in New Zealand, while the remainder were repatriated to England on the barque Bolina.[13]

In the new colony, the role of Colonial Storekeeper was a critical position within the rapidly expanding colonial administration. The Colonial Storekeeper was responsible for supporting the administration with its logistical needs. The Imperial troops in New Zealand were under the responsibility of the Board of Ordnance, with whom Tucker likely had a close working relationship.

Records show that as Colonial Storekeeper, Tucker was responsible for purchasing a wide variety of goods, including tents, blankets, stationery, printing supplies, building materials, animals, and feed. One of his primary duties was to store and issue arms to the settlers’ militia if needed. By December 1842, Tucker had the following items in store:[14]

• 46 Bayonets,
• 53 Muskets,
• 2 Cannonades 18pr, and
• 3 Camp Ovens.

In late 1843, Willoughby Shortland, the Colonial Secretary of New Zealand, deemed the position of Colonial Storekeeper unnecessary and cancelled it.[15] [16] This decision was unpopular and sparked controversy in the new colony, with newspapers of the day questioning it as an apparent case of nepotism. Tucker was well-liked in the community, and his redundancy was especially contentious given that a Mr. Leach was soon appointed to a similar role under a different job title.[17] Eventually, the duties of the Colonial Storekeeper were assumed by the Superintendent of Public Works.

After his redundancy, Tucker continued in government service. He was appointed Chief Clerk Audit on 17 February 1844, and on 24 July 1844, he became the Chief Clerk for the Governor’s private affairs.[18] [19] [20]

However, on 8 August 1846, it was announced in the nation’s newspapers that Tucker would be released from government service.[21] The newspapers of the time noted that Tucker was a well-respected public servant, and there was some disappointment over his release from public service

Final years

Late in 1846, Tucker returned to England, where he was shortly afterwards appointed Paymaster and Purser of HMS Acheron, a Hermes-class wooden paddle sloop of the Royal Navy. While HMS Acheron was undertaking a coastal survey of New Zealand, ill-health compelled Tucker to relinquish his post. Years of service had significantly impaired his constitution, and despite enduring great pain with fortitude and resignation for the last three or four months, he died on 26 August 1850 in Auckland, New Zealand.

Having been recently on active service and a well-respected public figure in the colony, Tucker’s funeral was a martial affair. His coffin, covered with the Union Jack and surmounted with his hat and sword, was carried to the grave by a party of Royal Navy Blue Jackets from HMS Fly. The funeral party included his son, the Governor of the New Zealand Colony, senior military officials, and a long and highly respectable procession of civilians and former shipmates from HMS Buffalo. Tucker is buried at the Symonds Street Cemetery in central Auckland.[22] [23]

The Daily Southern Cross newspaper eulogy of Henry Tucker read:[24]

“The late Mr Tucker may, without the smallest approach to monument or eulogy, be affirmed to have been a worthy, upright man. Sailors are accurate judges of character, and the soubriquet – “Honest” Ben Tucker” – which, according to Captain Edward Stanley was the appellation given him by his messmates, proved the high estimation in which he was held.”

Sadly, although Tucker was buried in the Symonds Street Cemetery, his tombstone can no longer be found in its original position and has not been seen for some years.

Legacy

As the first Colonial Storekeeper of New Zealand, Henry Tucker has been honoured as the godfather of the New Zealand Army’s Supply Trades.[25] The former Royal New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps named its unofficial Senior NCO, Warrant Officer, and Officer social and professional development club “The Henry Tucker Club,” a tradition which has carried over to the Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment. Today, his name adorns lecture rooms at the Supply Wing of the NZ Army Logistic Operations School and is also used for a combined exercise and field phase of the Logistic Specialist RNZALR Intermediate and Senior Supply courses.[26]

Copyright © Robert McKie 2017

Notes

 [1] Major J.S Bolton, A History of the Royal New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps (Trentham: RNZAOC, 1992), 43.

[2] “Plymouth Yard, Entry Books of Certificates. 1817–1845,” (The National Archives, 1803).

[3] South Wraxall Parish, “Marriage Records. 16 November 1817.,” (1817).

[4] Patricia Hargreaves, “Henry Tucker,” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/157192826.

[5] Sheila Robinson, “William Henry Terry Tucker,” in Te Ara – the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand (1993).

[6] National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy, “History of the Warrant Officer Rank,” http://navymuseum.co.nz/history-of-the-warrant-officer-rank/.

[7] Historic Naval Fiction, “Ranks & Duties in Royal Navy,” https://www.historicnavalfiction.com/general-hnf-info/naval-facts/ranks-duties.

[8] Brian Lavery, Nelson’s Navy: The Ships, Men and Organization (Annapolis, Md: aval Institute Press, 1989).

[9] National Museum of the Royal Navy, “Naval Ranks,” http://www.nmrn-portsmouth.org.uk/sites/default/files/Naval%20Ranks_0.pdf.

[10] P. Owen Wheatley Chas Ingram, Shipwrecks New Zealand Disasters 1795 to 1950., 2 ed. (Wellington: AH & AW Reed., 1936).

[11] John McLean, A Mission of Honour: The Royal Navy in the Pacific 1769-1997 (Winter Productions, 2010), Bibliographies, Non-fiction, 103.

[12] “Tucker Appointed as Colonial Storekeeper,” New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, Issue 36, 19 December 1840.

[13] A Mission of Honour: The Royal Navy in the Pacific 1769-1997, 106.

[14] Bolton, A History of the Royal New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps, 53.

[15] “Symptoms of Reform,” Daily Southern Cross, Volume I, Issue 29, 1 November 1843.

[16] “Editorial,” Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle Volume 3, Issue 138, 26 October 1844.

[17] “Domestic Intelligence,” Daily Southern Cross Volume 1, Issue 36, 23 December 1843.

[18] “Tucker Appointed as Colonial Storekeeper.”

[19] “Government Gazette,” New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, Volume V, Issue 354

24 July 1844.

[20] “New Appointments,” New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, Volume IV, Issue 325, 17 Feb 1844.

[21] “Auckland,” Wellington Independent Volume II, Issue 86, 8 August 1846.

[22] Brian G. van Wyk, “Grave Information Henry Tucker,” https://billiongraves.com/grave/Henry-Tucker/12884193.

[23] Hargreaves, “Henry Tucker”.

[24] “Henry Tucker,” Daily Southern Cross, Volume VI, Issue331, 30 August 1850.

[25] Bolton, A History of the Royal New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps, 44.

[26] “Exercise Henry Tucker,” NZ Army News, Issue 452, May 2015.