Ralph Tucker

RT021 At his place of work!

The Ralph Tucker Collection

RT018 No. 42 Platoon - Home Guard. Oct 1944. Ralph is standing behind the officer (front centre).

The Ralph Tucker Collection

RT026 on the canal bank after a swim, photo taken by Ken Barrow 4th July 1951. L to R (standing): Len Drew; Stan Medcraft; Morgan Walton. L to R (foreground): Ron Green; Ralph Tucker.

The Ralph Tucker Collection

RT029 A gathering of staff. What was in the parcels, I wonder? From L to R: Wilf Wrench; Ralph Tucker; Len Drew; Jean Stephens; J Carter; L Malley; M Workman; J Broady; J Aiken

The Ralph Tucker Collection

RT033 Group photo 1961. L to R: Tony Clark; Jack Garrington; Back Row: Noddy Bennett; Terry Cooper; Alan Baker; Local labourer; Front Row: John Worgan; Tony Barton; Ralph Tucker

The Ralph Tucker Collection

RT036 Letter of election as a Graduate to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers 19 January 1951

The Ralph Tucker Collection

RT037 Drg. No. 2821/2/M Maybe a copy of his first drawing?

The Ralph Tucker Collection

RT020 L to R: (background) F. James Fielding; Roy Pegler; Ralph Tucker (with slide rule); Garfield James. L to R (foreground): ? ; ? .

The Ralph Tucker Collection

RT025 Doug & Edith on a hill near Flaxley Abbey, 27 May 1951. (Doug and possibly Edith worked at F&P).

The Ralph Tucker Collection

RT030 (no location, date or occasion) Ron Green (centre); possibly Ralph Tucker 2nd right seated)

The Ralph Tucker Collection

Ralph (James) Tucker joined Fielding & Platt as an apprentice in 1939.  He worked on the shop floor prior to entering the drawing office as a draughtsman and amongst his memorabilia was found an insignificant Drawing No. 2821/2/M with his initials RJT, and dated 4 Nov. 1944 (from this the writer surmises that this could have been his first drawing!!).

He also worked on equipment designs for slab presses and extrusion presses and helped oversee the installation in France of the aluminium plate stretcher used for the Concorde aircraft and subsequently extrusion presses at Indalex in Cheltenham.

His career seems to have been exclusively devoted to working in the drawing office as a draughtsman and then designer, gaining his election to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in 1951, followed by promotion to Section Leader (Extrusion), and latterly gaining the position of Assistant to the Chief Draughtsman, Esmond Sergeant.

His son David, joined the company as an apprentice in 1969 and, following his apprenticeship, worked in the company as a skilled fitter for many years.

His daughter, Sue, kindly donated to the Gloucestershire Archives a number of Ralph’s photographs and technical books.  Some of his photos already exist on the website but we are pleased to post a few of the remainder.

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