WALLACE GEORGE TUCKER

Lance Corporal 290236

Wallace George Tucker was born in Newton Ferrers on 8 May 1895, the son of George, a fisherman, and Emma Tucker. He had four older sisters. The 1901 Census shows his mother as widowed, with only “George” and Blanche remaining at home. He was baptised at Holy Cross Church on 5 July 1895, and attended the local school from 30 August 1898 to 19 June 1908 (Roll No. 373 also gives his name as “George”).

George Tucker enlisted at Plymouth into The 2^nd/6^th Battalion (Territorials) of the Devonshire Regiment. The battalion served almost three years of the war as a garrison unit in India, initially in Bombay, then moving to the Chakrata Hills and ending up in Peshawar on the North West Frontier. In July 1917 orders were received to prepare for a move to Palestine, but on reaching Deolali fresh orders were issued for a move to Mesopotamia. The battalion sailed on the HT “Edavana” and arrived at Basra on 14 September 1917. Based at Sheikh Saad on the River Tigris in Basra Province, the battalion’s task was to protect lines of communications.

The battalion war diary does not report any deaths in November 1918, but there is a record of 65 soldiers going into hospital and 54 later being discharged. George Tucker may well have been one of the 11 who died. He died on 4 November 1918 aged 24, and is remembered with honour at the Amara Cemetery (Plot XIV.C.25) in Iraq.