View source for James Hingston Tuckey

{{Use British English|date=December 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name = James Hingston Tuckey
|image = 
|image_size = 
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|birth_date = August 1776
|death_date = {{Death-date and age|4 October 1816|August 1776}}
|birth_place = Greenhill, near [[Mallow, County Cork]]
|death_place = [[Moanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo|Moanda]], [[Kingdom of Kongo]]
|placeofburial = 
|placeofburial_label = 
|placeofburial_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} -->
|nickname = 
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|allegiance =[[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]<br/>[[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]
|branch = [[Royal Navy]]
|serviceyears = 1793–1816
|rank = [[Commander (Royal Navy)|Commander]]
|servicenumber = 
|unit = 
|commands = {{HMS|Congo|1816|6}}
|battles = [[French Revolutionary Wars]]<br/>[[Napoleonic Wars]]
|awards = 
|relations = 
|laterwork = 
}}
'''James Hingston Tuckey''' (August 1776 – 4 October 1816) was an [[Ireland|Irish-born]] [[United Kingdom|British]] [[explorer]] and a [[captain (Royal Navy)|captain]] in the [[Royal Navy]].<ref name=DNB>{{cite DNB |wstitle=Tuckey, James Kingston |last=Laughton |first=John Knox |authorlink=John Knox Laughton |volume=57|no-icon=1}}</ref> Some sources mistakenly refer to him as '''James Kingston Tuckey'''.

Tuckey was born at Greenhill, near Mallow, August 1776. He went to sea at an early age, and in 1793 was received into the navy. From the first he saw a good deal of active service, and he was more than once wounded. He was engaged in expeditions to the Red Sea, and in 1802 he helped expand the British [[colony]] of [[New South Wales]] in [[Australia]] as first-lieutenant of the {{HMS|Calcutta|1795|2}}. Amongst other services, he made a survey of [[Port Phillip District]]. On his return to England he published an ''Account of the Voyage to establish a Colony at Port Phillip''. The ''Calcutta'' was captured by the French on a voyage from [[St. Helena]] in 1805, and Lieutenant Tuckey suffered an imprisonment of nearly nine years in France, during which time he married Miss Margaret Stuart, a fellow prisoner, and prepared a work on ''Maritime Geography and Statistics'', published after his release.<ref name=IrishBio>{{Cite IrishBio|wstitle= Tuckey, James Kingston |year=1878 |page= 537 |short=}}</ref>

In 1814 he was promoted to the rank of commander,<ref name=IrishBio /> and in February 1816 he sailed to explore the [[River Congo]] in the schooner {{HMS|Congo|1816|2}}, accompanied by the stores ship ''Dorothy''. The expedition aimed to find if there was a connection between the Congo and [[Niger River|Niger]] basins of western and central [[Africa]]. Tuckey sailed up the river from its mouth but found that the lower river is not navigable due to rapids (later called the [[Yellala Falls]]) above Matadi. He only found ruins of the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] colony and moribund [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Mission (station)|mission]]s. He suggested sending Protestant missionaries to the Congo. He explored the river up to [[Isangila]]. Most of the officers and crew died of fever and Tuckey himself died on 14 October 1816, aged 40,  in [[Muanda|Moanda]], on the coast of today's [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|DR Congo]]. The expedition was a failure but raised interest in the exploration of Africa.<ref name=IrishBio />
<ref>[http://library.eb.com.au/all/eb/article-9073682?query=James%20Tuckey&ct=null ''Tuckey, James Kingston''.] Encyclopædia Britannica library edition online.</ref>

Tuckey was described as tall, and had been handsome, but long and arduous service broke down his constitution, and by thirty he was grey-haired and nearly bald. Further it is described that his countenance was pleasing and pensive; he was gentle and kind in his manners, cheerful in conversation, and indulgent to those under his command.<ref name=IrishBio />

==Named after==
A species of flowering plants named ''[[Euphorbia tuckeyana]]'' is named for him, named by [[Philip Barker Webb]] in 1849; they are native to the [[Cape Verde Islands]].

==Works==

* {{cite Q|Q19039311|author-mask=0}}<!-- An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip in Bass's Strait on the south coast of New South Wales -->
*{{Citation
 | last=Tuckey|first= James Hingston |authorlink=James Hingston Tuckey
 | title=Maritime geography and statistics
 | date=1815
 | publisher=Black, Parry & Co
 | place = London
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SzZjAAAAMAAJ}}
*{{Citation
 | last1=Tuckey|first1= James Hingston |authorlink=James Hingston Tuckey
 | last2=Smith|first2=Christen|authorlink2=Christen Smith (botanist)
 | title=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. To which is added, The journal of Professor Smith; some general observations on the country and its inhabitants
 | date=1818
 | publisher=J. Murray
 | place=London
 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/15375
 |ol=234844M }}

{{botanist|Tuckey|Tuckey, James Hingston}}

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuckey, James Hingston}}
[[Category:1776 births]]
[[Category:1816 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Irish explorers]]
[[Category:British explorers]]
[[Category:Explorers of Australia]]
[[Category:Explorers of Africa]]
[[Category:Royal Navy officers]]
[[Category:People from Mallow, County Cork]]
[[Category:19th-century Anglo-Irish people]]
[[Category:Napoleonic Wars prisoners of war held by France]]
[[Category:British prisoners of war in the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:19th-century Irish botanists]]
[[Category:Military personnel from County Cork]]
[[Category:Irish officers in the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars]]