TUCKER, WILLIAM HENRY (1843-1919) was born in Auckland, a son of Captain Henry Tucker, who was wrecked in H.M.S. Buffalo and returned to Auckland in 1843. The son was educated at Wesley College, and spent a year with a survey party in the Kaeo and Whangaroa districts. In 1859 he went on Woodlands station, Hawke's Bay. Having been in the volunteer artillery and the Victoria Rifles at Auckland, he joined the Waipawa Cavalry, in which he later became a lieutenant. Tucker settled on the Pouawa river, Poverty Bay, shortly before the massacre. He was with the settlers in the redoubt at Gisborne after the catastrophe awaiting the arrival of Colonel Whitmore, and then, in No. 1 company of the Poverty Bay militia, he went through the campaign against Te Kooti to the fall of Ngatapa (1869). Thereafter he settled down as a licensed interpreter, practising with success in the native land and appellate courts. He was a J.P. and a member of the first Gisborne borough council, and afterwards mayor for two years; a member of the harbour board, and president of the Poverty Bay prohibition league. He was a member of the Legislative Council (1907-14) and died on 19 Feb 1919. Tucker married Miss Elizabeth Randall, of Taranaki.

N.Z.P.D., 29 Aug, 2 Sep 1919; Cycl. N.Z., ii; Who's Who N.Z., 1908; N.Z. Herald, 21 Feb 1919; Poverty Bay Herald, 5 Jan 1924. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 2, page 202

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