HENRY TUCKLEY

Methodist Minister and Author

[Prepared with the excellent assistance of Jan Tuckley in the USA. A descendent of James Bromley Tuckley the brother of Henry Tuckley.]

"Henry Tuckley is a man of commanding presence and speaks with oratorical effect. He speaks easily and with vigor." Newspaper comment 1893.

Henry Herbert Tuckley to give him his full name was born in 1848 Willenhall, Staffordshire, England, the son of Humphrey Tuckley a Keysmith and Key Manufacturer. In the1861 Census, aged 12, he was listed as a scholar along with his brothers and sisters in "private" schools. Perhaps this just refers to the fact that education had to be paid for and there were no free state schools in 1861. The fact that his father could afford to pay for his education at 12 and perhaps beyond say to 14 years indicates that he was probably a good scholar and set him on the way out of the Lock Industry where most of his siblings and relatives made their living.

He emigrated as a lay preacher at 16 [Reference a leeter frrom his grandson] but it appears that the date is not correct and that he actually emigrated to Canada in 1869 from Liverpool aged 20 years. No details are known about his time in Canada and he moved to the USA in 1872 and lived in Ohio. He entered the Methodist Ministry in Dayton Ohio, in 1874, and was assigned to the Kentucky circuit for a short time. He married Mary Susan Smith of Vinroy, Indianna in 1875.and then moved to Hartwell, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati where his son James Herbert was born in 1876. He preached at Christ Church for several years and became a naturalised citizen of the USA 1879

He preached at St Pauls, Springfield, Ohio and then at Matthewson Street Church in Providence Rhode Island and subsequently his last churches were in Covington and Lexington in Kentucky.

In the 1880,s and 1890's he have travelled with his wife and children to England, France and Germany during which time he kept a diary and gathered many interesting data which provided the background to his books.. He must have had sufficient income , perhaps from a rich benefactor, to cover him and his family of two daughters Elizabeth and Martha Jane and a son. James Herbert. Today he might be described as a Christian Socialist.

Returned from Rotterdam Holland on the SS Obdam , First Class,15th April 1893 He became the new pastor of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church Springfield Mass., April 16th 1893. Extract from local Springfield paper --New Pastor the Reverend Henry Tuckley is widely known as a man of letters as well as a preacher. His works include two volumes of sermons for Young People “Lifes Golden Morning” and a book on home life in England entitled “Under the Queen” He has several books of travel now in press and has corresponded extensively for leading dailies in his country [ Editor—which country is meant USA or England?] and several denominational papers. He is a man of commanding presence and speaks with oratorical effect. Mr Tuckley is of middle height with a pleasant face, wearing a full beard. He speaks easily and with vigor. He preached yesterday morning from the text of Matthew xvii:8 and in the evening from 11 Corinthians v:20 He seems to have travelled alone to Europe in 1894/1895 returning on the SS Teutonic from Queenstown

He is described as a Clergyman in Binghamton, New York State 1901
Applied for a USA passport in 1901 in order to go abroad temporarily, for about a year.
He may have travelled just with his wife 1901/1902 returning 15th March 1902 from Southampton
At the time of his death in 1909 in Binghamton New York he was Methodist District Superintendent

Wrote 7 books during the period 1886 [?] and 1895 ,on topics such as Religion, Life and Conditions in England for working people in the 1890,s and Life in France . Copies of four of his books are in the British Library in London :-

[1] Under the Queen; or Present Day Life in England

Published 1891in the USA

A view for Americans of the people of England and their daily lives in Victorian times. He “sought to be entertaining” He looks at life in speech, villages, universities, farming, coal and iron industries, holiday customs, cricket [the national game ?] hunting, public houses, drinking customs and temperance, schools, railways, parliament and the franchise, royalty, postal system, newspapers, the salvation army, London by gas light, and last but not least he discusses England’s greatest problem “social and commercial conditions which tend to impoverish the British workman”, Church and Stage, slums, the Sabbath the contrast between London and Paris, London’s leading preacher Spurgeon

[2] Masses and Classes. A study of Industrial Conditions in England    Published 1893 in the USA

Again a view for Americans of the conditions and feelings of the working classes in England.

Did the title come from a speech by William Gladstone in Liverpool in 28th June 1886 “ I will back the masses against the classes ?”

A study of industrial conditions in many different trades from the Dockers in Bermondsey, Factory girls, School teachers, Bricklayers, Bus and tram men. [Editor -Considering he had been born into the Lock Industry it is surprising that he does not include a reference to it in his book.]

He indicates that the “ working classes of Great Britain are a model for the world yet states that “Old England is in ferment, unrest is working everywhere, but especially in the minds and the hearts of the masses”.

[3] In Sunny France- Present day life in the French Republic

Published 1894 in the USA

Phases of French Life.

“Sketches of folks and things in France are humbly offered to those readers who may wish to inform or refresh themselves in a general and pleasant way upon the most interesting phases of French Life without devoting much time to the subject.”.

He contrasts life in Paris and London particularly for the poor, American students lives in Paris, the streets and the boulevards of Paris, the French Legislature,