In memory of Samuel Tucker
In memory of Samuel Tucker
Samuel Tucker was born in Martock, Somerset, in 1880. When the 1901 census was taken, he was at his cousin’s home in the parish of Ystradyfodwg, near Pontypridd, and 10 years later he was in nearby Eglwysilan. Before the outbreak of war he had moved to Caerphilly, where he lived with his wife Emily Mabel at 45 St Fagan’s Street and worked as a miner. He worshipped at St Martin’s Church, and was bellringer there.
He enlisted as a private in Caerphilly with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 14th Battalion, and went to the Western Front in France in 1915. Within six months of joining the RWF he had been promoted to Sergeant Major.
In June 1917 he received the Meritorious Service Medal. He was recommended for the Military Cross for his gallantry and devotion to duty in August 1917, when part of the front line near Ypres, Belgium, became deserted. Despite intense German bombardment, Regimental Sergeant Major Tucker collected the uninjured “stragglers” and reoccupied the gap. He received his MC from the king at Buckingham Palace in January 1918.
As the war was nearing its end, he was wounded while fighting in France, and died on 8 September 1918, leaving his wife and four children. He was buried at St Sever Cemetery, Rouen. Further information about him is available from the website of Cardiff University, as part of its Welsh Voices of the Great War project.
