Frederick Tuckett 1807-1876

Chief surveyor, explorer, acting NZ Company resident agent

Frederick Tuckett (1807-1876) The Nelson Provincial Museum, OP 295095
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Frederick Tuckett trained as a civil engineer and was appointed chief surveyor and second-in-command of the first New Zealand Company expedition ship, the Will Watch  in April 1841.

He came from a prominent Society of Friends (Quaker) family, but in 1839 resigned from the Society. He was variously described as being dogmatic, pious, intelligent, high-minded and humane, Quaker-like in his habits and taste, and resolute in acting to the dictates of his conscience regardless of the consequences. 

On arrival in New Zealand he was soon at loggerheads with Captain Arthur Wakefield  regarding the site of Nelson, as he correctly estimated there would not be enough land to provide the required acreage for Company settlers. 

However, in February 1842, he was enthusiastic about Nelson's potential, writing to friends: "We have a thriving cheerful aspect, and most of the emigrants on arrival are pleased with the place, and the first impression is subsequently sustained." 

He also wrote about rats "they have no cunning or timidity, and are killed in great numbers, but there is no sensible diminution." Tuckett advised prospective settlers to bring good strong terrier dogs and wire traps and gins. 

Tuckett was known for his hospitality. One settler wrote: " The best dinner I have had since I landed was one I ate with Mr Tuckett, the chief surveyor; he overtook me on my road home and insisted upon my going to him - sack trousers and all. We had some New Zealand quail and I thought I had never eaten anything so nice." 

Poignantly, in February 1843, Tuckett wrote to his brother Francis: "Really if I could only meet with a good wife, I should pocket my first mortification of not being one of the founders of a future nation and be content to sojourn here for life." 

In June 1843, at the Wairau Affray, along with fellow Quaker and surveyor, J. W. Barnicoat,  Tuckett refused to bear arms and disregarded Arthur Wakefield's advice to surrender to Ngati Toa.  Following his return to Nelson, he was appointed acting resident agent of the New Zealand Company. 

During his short time as resident agent, Tuckett dealt kindly with the German emigrants from the St Pauli, writing to Colonel William Wakefield, "It is impossible however for many of the Immigrants in the present state of affairs here to obtain employment, I have promoted their entering at once on the cultivation of land....by offering them the lease of one or two Colonial sections in the Moutere District."

However, a month later, he wrote to Nelson's resident agent, William Fox : " I need not remind you that very recently my endeavors to carry into effect the instructions of the New Zealand Company...have been defeated ....an armed mob inflamed with alcohol attended the payment of wages at the Agency office and with threats of committing murder, endeavored to extort money." 

Frederick Tuckett was honest and conscientious and an excellent surveyor, but a poor administrator in the hurly burly of the Colony's early days. In January 1844, he left Nelson to explore and survey a site for the settlement of ‘New Edinburgh' (Otago). 

He returned to London in 1846, leaving his Nelson home to the German Lutheran church. "In his all around love of man, he made no difference between one religion and another," wrote his friend, Lutheran pastor, the Rev J Wohlers. 

This article is paraphrased from a series of columns written by Joy Stephens and published in the Nelson Mail in 2007.

 Updated April 24, 2020

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