Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 57.djvu/283

Tuathal military employment, and by a despatch from Lord George Germain (dated Whitehall, 5 June 1778) he was appointed to the command of the 70th (or Surrey) regiment, and at the same time promoted major-general ‘in America.’ James Robertson (1720?–1788) succeeded him as civil governor of New York, this being the last British appointment to that post. Tryon's lands were forfeited, and he was attainted by an act of congress dated 22 Oct. 1779. In the meantime he had been urging by every means in his power a more vigorous conduct of the war, and called upon the government to undertake a system of ‘depredatory excursions.’ He succeeded in obtaining power to issue letters of marque, and claimed that his privateers had greatly damaged the enemy; he further recommended that a reward should be offered for the capture of members of congress. In the summer of 1779 he made a successful expedition into Connecticut, and during the succeeding winter Sir Henry Clinton left him in command of the troop in the New York district. Early in 1780, however, a ‘very severe gout’ compelled his return to England, and his health precluded him from taking further service in America. He was promoted lieutenant-general on 20 Nov. 1782, and died at his house in Upper Grosvenor Street on 27 Dec. 1788. He was buried at Twickenham. No portrait of Tryon is believed to be extant. His autograph and coat of arms are facsimiled in Wilson's ‘Memorial History of the City of New York.’

 TUATHAL (d. 544), king of Ireland, called Maelgarbh, Roughcrown, to distinguish him from Tuathal Teachtmhar, to whom the Irish historians attribute the subjugation of the Aithech Tuatha and restoration of the Milesian line in 76, was son of Cormac the blind, son of Cairbre, son of  [q. v.], and was therefore second cousin of [q. v.], whom he succeeded in 533 as king of Ireland. His power was resisted by the Cianachta, a tribe in the east of Meath and Louth, but he defeated them at the battle of Cluanailbhe in Meath. They had probably supported Dermot's claim to be ardrigh; Dermot was son of Cearbhall, son of Conall Cremthain, son of Niall Naighiallach, and, after the defeat of the Cianachta, he was obliged to live as a fugitive, and as such took part in the foundation of Clonmacnoise [see ]. According to a story in the English version of the ‘Annals of Clonmacnoise,’ Tuathal offered a reward for Dermot's heart. Dermot's foster brother Maelmordha rode into Tuathal's presence with an animal's heart on a spear, as if to claim the reward, and when close to the king stabbed him with the spear and was himself slain. This assassination is said to have taken place in 544 at a spot called Greallach, but which of the several localities called by this Irish equivalent of Slough is not clear in the chronicles. Dermot succeeded Tuathal as king of Ireland.

 TUCHET. [See .]

 TUCKER, ABRAHAM (1705–1774), philosopher, born in London on 2 Sept. 1705, was the son of a London merchant, descended from a Somerset family, by Judith, daughter of Abraham Tillard. His parents dying during his infancy, he was left to the guardianship of his uncle, Sir Isaac Tillard. Sir Isaac was an honourable and generous man, who earned the warm gratitude of his nephew both by his precept and by his example. He was less distinguished for literary than for religious culture, and when the boy had to write formal letters to relations told him to adopt as a model the epistles of St. Paul. Tucker was at a school at Bishop Stortford till 1721, when he was entered as a gentleman commoner at Merton College, Oxford. There, besides studying philosophy and mathematics, he became a good French and Italian scholar, and cultivated a considerable talent for music. He was entered at the Inner Temple, and made himself a fair lawyer, though he was never called to the bar, and only used his knowledge in the discharge of his duties as justice of the peace. He made a few vacation tours, one of them on the continent, and in 1727 bought Betchworth Castle, near Dorking, with a considerable landed estate. He studied agriculture 