Herbert Tucker was born 4 December 1925, the only son of the late Francis Tucker and late Mary Ann Tucker; he was educated at Queen Elizabeth’s, Lincolnshire, and Rossington Main, Yorkshire; in 1948, he married Mary Stewart Dunlop.

After working on the Western Morning News, Sheffield Telegraph, Nottingham Journal and Daily Telegraph, 1944-51, and the Treasury Economic Information Unit, 1948-49, Tucker joined the Foreign Office, later Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in 1951, working as head of the editorial section in the Information Research Department until 1974. During his subsequent diplomatic career, he served as: Counsellor (Information) and Director, British Information Services, Canberra [Australia], 1974-78; Consul-General, Vancouver, [Canada] 1979-83; Disarmament Information Coordinator, FCO, 1983-84.

He was awarded the OBE in 1965. Tucker died in August 1996.