Somerville Pinkney Tuck Jr. (May 3, 1891 – April 21, 1967) was an American diplomat.

Early life

"Kippy" Tuck was born on May 3, 1891, in

New Brighton, Staten Island New Brighton is a neighborhood located on the North Shore of Staten Island in New York City. The neighborhood comprises an older industrial and residential harbor front area along the Kill Van Kull west of St. George. New Brighton is bounded by ...

, New York. He was a son of Somerville Pinkney Tuck (1848–1923) and Emily Rosalie Snowden ( Marshall) Tuck (1858–1940), who died at her home in

Bisterne Bisterne is a hamlet in the civil parish of Ringwood in the New Forest National Park in Hampshire, England. Its nearest town is Ringwood, which lies to the north. History Bisterne is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Betestre. It was posse ...

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, fea ...

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, in April 1940. His father had been presiding judge of the International Court of Egypt. His siblings were William Hallem Tuck, Alexander John Marshall Tuck (who married four times), and Carola Marshall ( Tuck) Mills (wife of British MP Sir

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portra ...

). His paternal grandparents were Margaret Sprigg Bowie (

Chew Chewing or mastication is the process by which food is crushed and ground by teeth. It is the first step of digestion, and it increases the surface area of foods to allow a more efficient break down by enzymes. During the mastication process, ...

) Tuck and

William Hallam Tuck William Hallam Tuck (November 20, 1808 – March 17, 1884) was a lawyer, judge and banker who served as a justice of the Maryland Court of Appeals from 1851 to 1861. Early life Tuck was born in Annapolis, Maryland on November 20, 1808. He was a s ...

, a Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals from 1851 to 1861. His maternal grandparents were Sara Rebecca Nicholls ( Snowden) Marshall (daughter of Col. Thomas Snowden) and Col. Charles Marshall of Baltimore, a

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

Adjutant and aide-de-camp to General Robert E. Lee. Among his five maternal uncles were attorney Hudson Snowden Marshall. Tuck went to boarding school in Switzerland, Germany and the United States before attending

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

, where he was known as a ''bon vivant'', and graduated with the class of 1913.

Career

Upon his graduation from Dartmouth, he joined the diplomatic service of the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other ...

. Early in his career, in the early 1920s Tuck was the American Consul at

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...

. In 1932, during the recess of the

World Disarmament Conference The Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments, generally known as the Geneva Conference or World Disarmament Conference, was an international conference of states held in Geneva, Switzerland, between February 1932 and November 1934 ...

in Geneva that Tuck was attending as an expert to the American delegation, he was designated first secretary of the legation at Prague, cancelling earlier plans to appoint him first secretary of the legation at Budapest. Tuck, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, was the Foreign Service Officer who served as Chargé d'affaires to

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...

until the Vichy regime severed diplomatic relations with the U.S. on November 8, 1942. After leaving that post, Tuck became the last envoy and first United States Ambassador to Egypt being appointed by President Roosevelt on May 4, 1944. He presented his credentials as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary on June 14, 1944. Upon the legation being raised to Embassy status, he was appointed the first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Egypt on September 19, 1946, presenting his credentials on October 10, 1946, serving until he left his post on May 30, 1948. Tuck was "well regarded in Cairo for his ability to speak Egyptian and Arabic fluently and for his talents as a raconteur. He went shopping in the bazaars on his own and excited comment by bargaining with merchants in their own language." After retiring from government service, he served on the board of directors of the Suez Canal in the 1950s.

Personal life

In October 1924, Tuck was married to Beatrice Mitchell Beck in

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, at St. Thomas's Church in

Dupont Circle Dupont Circle (or DuPont Circle) is a traffic circle, park, neighborhood and historic district in Northwest Washington, D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th Street NW to the east, 22nd Street NW t ...

in a ceremony attended by President and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge. Beatrice, later a friend of the

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

and

Duchess of Windsor Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused a ...

, was a daughter of former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

James M. Beck, who was at the time President Coolidge's Solicitor General. Among Tuck's ushers at the wedding were the Hon.

John Francis Amherst Cecil John Francis Amherst Cecil (30 June 1890 – 22 October 1954) was the first secretary of the British Embassy, Washington, known for his marriage to Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt. Early life John Francis Amherst Cecil was born on 30 June 1890 in ...

(the first secretary of the

British Embassy in Washington The British Embassy, Washington D.C. (alternatively in the US, Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington, D.C.) is the British sovereign's diplomatic mission to the United States of America, representing the interests of the United Kingdom and ...

), at whose wedding to

Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt Cecil Bulkely-Johnson Goodsir (August 22, 1900 – February 7, 1976) was an American born heiress and member of the Vanderbilt family who inherited the Biltmore Estate. She was known for her eccentric behavior. Ear ...

Tuck had been an usher four months earlier; also Raymond Cox, Donald Rodgers, Cmmdr. Arthur L. Bristol, William J. Curtis, the bride's brother James M. Beck Jr., and William Hallem Tuck, his brother as best man. Before their divorce in 1934, they were the parents of: * James Marshall Tuck (1925–2003), who married Mary Chase Nicholson, daughter of William Goldsborough Nicholson, in 1956. * David Hallam Tuck (1931–2002), a stockbroker. After their divorce, Beatrice married Snowden Andrews Fahnestock (a grandson of banker

Harris C. Fahnestock Harris Charles Fahnestock (February 27, 1835 – June 4, 1914) was an American investment banker. Early life Fahnestock was born on February 27, 1835, in Harrisburg in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He was a son of Adam Konigmacher Fahnestock (1 ...

) in 1936. In 1936, Tuck remarried to heiress Katherine Whitney ( Demme) Douglas (1897–1981) in Paris. Katherine was the former wife of First National Bank president D. Dwight Douglas. Tuck died at the American Hospital in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

in April 1967. His widow died in 1981 in

Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan Grosse Pointe Farms is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,479 at the 2010 census. As part of the Grosse Pointe collection of cities, it is a northeastern city of Metro Detroit and shares a small wester ...

References

;Notes ;Sources

External links

Somerville Pinkney Tuck Jr. (1891–1967)
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuck, Somerville Pinkney 1891 births 1967 deaths Dartmouth College alumni Ambassadors of the United States to France Ambassadors of the United States to Egypt United States Foreign Service personnel