Identity:

Stephen Tucker was a friend of Whistler.

Life:

Stephen Tucker was a close friend of Whistler and E. W. Godwin, who seemed to be useful for putting Whistler in touch with patrons (#05865). No letters from him have been located, and letters written to Tucker from Whistler date between 1868-1878. In 1876, Dr W. M. Whistler recommended a spa at Starnberger See, Bavaria, for Miss Tucker (who may have been his sister or daughter), who was convalescing at the time (#06997, #06998).

His identity is uncertain. It is possible that he was Stephen Isaacson Tucker (1835/1838-1887), a writer on genealogy and heraldry, probably based in the College of Heralds. He was actively publishing between 1874-1884 such works as The assignment of arms to Shakespeare and Arden (1884) and The pedigree of Percy Bysshe Shelly given from the records of the College of Arms (1880). He also collected engraved portraits.

Bibliography:

Annual Register, London, 1887, p. 120; Kelly's Post Office Directory, London, 1961 and 1862.