The Tucker's letters of the 1890's

These letters were discovered in the St James Church papers. (SJC) They are from the last few years of the Tucker family involvment as school trustees. Because Ernest Alfred lived in Brighton he used an agent to do his bidding in Bourton. His brother, William Henry, who lived in Yew Tree House, Shrivenham, did not like his agent. When Ernest resigned as a Trustee over the matter, their cousin Stephen Baker Tucker tried to mediate. One of the letters written by Stephen is written on unusual, very thin, rice paper-like material and is stored in the file within a separate folder. It's a series of letters that marks the end of the Tucker dynasty at Bourton.

On the back of a letter written to Stephen Tucker by John Phillips the head teacher of Bourton School, is scribbled twice, 'How the Tuckers loved each other.' It would seem that the once solid and unified Tucker family had lost it's loyalty by the end of the 19th century.

In this file (from the BHP Collection) is also a 'Deed of Enlargement' in the name of Ernest Alfred Tucker, who became the heir to the Tucker Estate after the death of Elizabeth Tucker, widow of Henry. It concerned the use of the Settled Land Act to turn two exceptionally long leases into fee simple (freehold). The Leases referred to at the beginning we do not have copies of, but are likely to refer to the original land on which Bourton House was built by Henry Tucker. See N147 for more info on the Tuckers.

To see a scan of the full document please go HERE

St James papers