Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 57.djvu/292

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Tuckney
286
Tuckney

health was delicate, but he urged that it would improve in a warm climate, and so it was settled that he should go. There is no doubt that his two published works showed Tuckey as a scientific geographer; his service record showed him to be a good officer, and it was probably thought that some compensation was due to him for his long imprisonment; but the idea of choosing this particular reward or compensation for a man affected with chronic disease of the liver, and that without any medical inspection, seems preposterous.

He sailed early in 1816 in a specially built vessel, named the Congo, and accompanied by the Dorothy storeship. The Dorothy remained in the lower river, while the Congo pushed up as far as the cataracts. Tuckey then undertook a journey by land, to see what was above the cataracts, but his health completely broke down, and he was obliged to return. Utterly worn out, he got back to the Congo on 17 Sept.; on the following day he was sent down to the Dorothy, and on board her he died on 4 Oct., 'of exhaustion rather than of disease.' But the report of the surgeon was 'that since leaving England he never enjoyed good health, the hepatic functions being generally in a deranged state.' His journal, exactly as he wrote it, was published, by permission of the admiralty, under the title of 'Narrative of an Expedition to explore the River Zaire, usually called the Congo, in South Africa, in 1816, under the direction of Captain J. K. Tuckey, R.N.' (1818, 4to). While at Verdun in 1806 Tuckey married Margaret Stuart, a fellow-prisoner, daughter of the captain of an Indiaman, by whom he left issue.

[His works as mentioned, especially the introduction to the Narrative of the Congo Expedition, p. xlvii, where the anonymous editor has given a detailed memoir.]

J. K. L.


TUCKNEY, ANTHONY, D.D. (1599–1670), puritan divine, son of William Tuckney, vicar of Kirton, near Boston, Lincolnshire, was born there, and baptised on 22 Sept. 1599. He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, being admitted pensioner 4 June 1613, and graduating B.A. 1616-17, M.A. 1620. Being elected fellow (1619), he did not at once reside, but became household chaplain to Theophilus Clinton, fourth earl of Lincoln. Returning to the university, he pursued for ten years a distinguished career as tutor, among his pupils being Benjamin Whichcote [q. v.], Henry Pierrepont, first marquis of Dorchester [q. v.], and his brother William Pierrepont [q. v.] He commenced B.D. in 1627. On 2 Oct. 1629 he was elected to succeed Edward Wright, deceased, as ' mayor's chaplain ' or ' town preacher ' at Boston, where his cousin, John Cotton (1585-1652), was vicar. When Cotton resigned (7 May 1633) with a view to migration to New England, Tuckney was chosen (22 July) by the corporation to succeed him. His puritanism, though not so pronounced as Cotton's, brought him into some trouble with the spiritual courts, but he was beloved by his parishioners. He founded (1635) a library, still existing, in a room over the church porch, giving many books to it. During the plague of 1637 he fearlessly ministered to his flock. He was chosen with Herbert Palmer [q. v.] as clerk for Lincoln diocese in the second convocation of 1640.

Tuckney was nominated in the ordinance of 12 June 1643 to be a member of the Westminster assembly of divines, he and Thomas Coleman ('rabbi Coleman') [q. v.] representing the county of Lincoln. He removed with his family to London, retaining the Boston vicarage at the desire of his parishioners, but transferring the salary (100l.) to his curate in charge. He was provided for in London by receiving the sequestered rectory of St. Michael-le-Querne, Cheapside. In the Westminster assembly Tuckney took a very important part, as chairman of committee, in the preparation of the doctrinal formularies; his wording was often adopted; in the larger catechism the exposition of the decalogue is almost entirely his. But, as he explained (1651) to Whichcote, 'in the assemblie, I gave my vote with others that the Confession of Faith, puttout by Authoritie, shoulde not bee required to bee eyther sworne or subscribed-too; we having bin burnt in the hand in that kind before; but so as not to be publickly preached or written against.'

On 11 April 1645 the assembly approved of his appointment as master of Emmanuel. He spent part of each year at Cambridge. On 30 March 1648 an ordinance was passed for making him Margaret professor of divinity; it does not seem to have taken effect, but in that year, the dogmatic work of the assembly being completed, he resigned his London rectory and removed his family to Cambridge. He was vice-chancellor that year, and on Good Friday, 15 March 1648-9, he waited on Edward Montagu, second earl of Manchester [q. v.], to congratulate him on his appointment as chancellor. In 1649 he commenced D.D. He tried to save William Sancroft [q. v.] from ejection (May 1651) from his fellowship at Emmanuel. Later in the same year (September-November 1651) occurred his memorable corre-