Frederick William Tucker was born on 16 May, 1888, at 21 Offord Road, Islington, Middlesex, the second son of Clare Hammett Tucker, a sub-editor, later a journalist, and Laurel/Laura Clara Tucker (formerly Wilks).
He had eight siblings: Alice Clare (1885); Ernest John (1886); Lilian May (1890); Herbert Victor (1892); Harry George (1894); Alfred Edward (1896); Doris Evelyn (1901); and Elsie Gladys (1903), who died in 1913, aged 10. The first two were born in the Pancras district and all the others in Islington.
By 1891 the family was living at 17 Belitha Villas, in Islington, where it remained until at least 1906. By 1911 it was living at 33 Hillmarton Road, in Holloway, Middlesex, and was still there when Frederick was embodied in 1915.
By 1917, when he was discharged from the Army, the remaining family, still at home, lived at 12 Crayford, Holloway. His father had died in 1912, and his youngest sister in 1913. From 1908 until he was embodied, Frederick William Tucker was employed as a clerk, with the British Petroleum Company, at 171 Great Portland Street, London. He remained unmarried.
His brother, Ernest John, served as a corporal with the 113th Battery, 25th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, and was killed in action in September, 1914, at Courtonne, in France. Another brother, Alfred Edward, served as an acting corporal in the Army Service Corps during World War One, and later as an inspector, in the London Telecommunications Region.
Frederick William Tucker was embodied at London on 21 January, 1915, into the 2nd (City of London) (Reserve) Battalion, London Regiment, as a private, number, 3441, and nine days later transferred to the 2/1st (City of London) Battalion.
He was aged 26 and described as being: 5' 6" tall; with dark hair; grey eyes; a sallow complexion; and a chest, measurement of 33"/36". He had clearly been a pre-war member of the London Regiment to have been embodied as opposed to enlisted.
On 1 February he embarked with the battalion at Southampton, bound for the Expeditionary Force at Malta, where he disembarked on 11 February. On 25 August he embarked at Malta on the unit becoming part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. Five days later it disembarked at Alexandria, in Egypt, from where it embarked on 7 September, bound for Gallipoli.
It landed at West Beach, Suvla Bay, on 25 September. The battalion was attached to the 88th Brigade, 29th Division, bivouacked at Anafarta Saghir, and for the first 12 days provided working parties, during which time it suffered 21 casualties, wounded, nearly all in the vicinity of the bivouacs.
On 5 October it moved to Borderers Gully, and up to 6 October had sent 27 men to hospital, sick, more than had been suffered by enemy action. For the next four days from 7 October the battalion sent each of its four companies to take over part of the firing line for experience, during which time it suffered its first fatality, in 'B' Company, on 8 October, and had suffered another man wounded, in 'A' Company, on 7 October.
By 10 October 43 men had been sent to hospital sick.
On 12 October the battalion entered the firing line, where it remained for the next seven days, during which time it suffered 4 men killed and 19 wounded: yet by 17 October it had sent 110 men to hospital, sick.
The battalion was relieved in the firing line on 19 October and moved to Essex Ravine. Between 20-24 October the battalion provided working parties and suffered no casualties, but by 24 October 188 men had been sent to hospital sick, one of whom had been Frederick William Tucker, on 20 October. By the end of the month the number of men sent to hospital, sick, had risen to 254.
It is likely that Private Tucker was first treated at a field ambulance at Suvla before being evacuated to a hospital on Mudros. His sickness was severe enough for him not return to his unit at Gallipoli, and on 29 December he was invalided to England aboard the Hospital Ship Lancfranc. On 10 January, 1916, he was posted home. He eventually transferred to the 4/1st (City of London) (Reserve) Battalion, London Regiment, at Hurdcott, on 12 April.
With that unit he was appointed lance corporal (unpaid) in August, and in the November the unit moved to Torquay. In March, 1917, he was appointed lance corporal (paid), and in the April the unit moved to Blackdown, at Aldershot, where, on 1 July, he reverted to the pay of a private.
Throughout this period Frederick William Tucker had obviously continued to suffer from the illness which caused his evacuation from Gallipoli. In August he was admitted to hospital, suffering from anaemia, attributed to his service, and the following month his stools were examined for signs of typhoid and dysentery, but proved negative. On 5 October he was examined by a medical board which found the patient weak, anaemic, and under weight. He had a distended abdomen and weak flabby abdominal muscles. He tired very quickly and suffered from dyspnoea (shortness of breath), cardiac palpitation, pains and weakness of the legs upon the slightest exertion.
His proper weight was 11 stone 4 lbs, but had dropped to 9 stone 7 lbs. It was found that his condition was the result of active service, infection and climate. On 26 October, 1917, he was discharged, no longer physically fit for war service. He was awarded a pension of £1 7s 6d for four weeks, and £1 2s 0d thereafter. On 3 November, 1917 he was issued with the Silver War Badge.
He had served during World War One for 2 years and 278 days, of which 196 days had been spent on Malta, and 95 days at Gallipoli. Frederick William Tucker's condition worsened and he died on 14 March, 1918, at the Great Northern Hospital, Islington, from tubercular peritonitis; faecal fistula (abnormal tube-like passage, between the colon and external surface of the body), and intestinal obstruction. These conditions were clearly present at the time of his medical board, but which were not specifically diagnosed. They would have led to his anaemic condition, which was the term used on his discharge.
He died aged 29, and was buried on 20 March, 1918, at Islington Cemetery (Finchley Burial Ground), in his father's grave, which also contained his youngest sister, and later his mother.
His death being due to war service, he is commemorated on the World War One memorial inside St. Luke's Church, at Kentish Town, Islington, London, beneath the name of his brother. Having been discharged before his death he was not commemorated by the CWGC until 2025, after three submissions had been made to have him accepted for commemoration.
Frederick William Tucker lies buried at Islington Cemetery, in a family grave, the kerb of which bears the inscription: ALSO OF FRED. DIED FROM ILLNESS CONTRACTED IN GALLIPOLI. 14 MAR. 1918. AGED 29.
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