TUCKFIELD, Roger (c.1685-1739), of Raddon Court, Devon

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

21 Jan. 1708 - 17 Mar. 1711
1713 - 26 Mar. 1739

Family and Education

b. c.1685, 1st s. of Roger Tuckfield of Raddon Court by Margaret, da. of William Davie, barrister, of Dura, Devon.  educ. Exeter, Oxf. matric. 8 Aug. 1700, aged 15. unmsuc. fa. 1687.1

Offices Held

Biography

Tuckfield’s family had been established at Raddon Court, to the north of Exeter, since the 16th century. He was left in possession of the estate at an early age, and in 1702 his guardian and kinsman Sir William Davie, 4th Bt., a Whig and a patron of local Dissenters, purchased a moiety of the manor of Ashburton on his behalf. However, Davie died in 1707 before conveying it to Tuckfield, thus obliging Tuckfield to procure an Act early in 1708 to vest this and other estates in himself. Despite strong opposition he was elected for the borough at a by-election in January that year, and retained the seat at the general election in May after another bitter contest. His Whig politics were noted in a list published early in 1708, and indicated by his votes in favour of naturalizing the Palatines in 1709, and for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell in 1710. He was returned in 1710, following which he was classed as a Whig in the ‘Hanover list’, but was unseated on petition in March 1711. Regaining his seat in 1713, he voted on 18 Mar. 1714 against the motion leading to the expulsion of Richard Steele, and was classed as a Whig in the Worsley list. He died on 26 Mar. 1739.2

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

  • 1. Vivian, Vis. Devon, 270.
  • 2. Trans. Devon Assoc. xciv. 451; xcviii. 217.