Exploring the rich multicultural history of Devon.

Tucker’s Sketches

Posted on

15th April 2021

Posted by

Wendy Milne

Posted in

Blog

From Devon Record Office, a collection of ‘Portraits of Devonshire Characters’ by an artist called Tucker. Dated 1870-1873.

Number 3 carries the caption “Miss ______ Daughter of an English Merchant in West Africa sent to England to be educated”, with the (probably ironic) subtitle ‘Fairest of the Fair’.

Number 7 is entitled “Prince of Abyssinia sketched at St Davids station” and is almost certainly a drawing of Prince Alemayehu, son of Tewodros II of Ethiopia, who killed himself after the Battle of Magdala, 1868.

Photographs by Ghee Bowman, with acknowledgements to Devon Record Office

From an event in March 2013