Tucker was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal (now South Africa), and was educated at Winchester and at New College, Oxford.

He was called to the Bar (Inner Temple) in 1914, and was commissioned into the British Army as a lieutenant during World War I.

[1] He was recorder of Southampton in 1936–37, and was a Justice of the King's Bench Division of the High Court between 1937 and 1945, receiving the customary knighthood upon his appointment.

[1] Invested as a privy Councillor on 30 October 1945, Tucker was Lord Justice of Appeal from 1945 to 1950, became an honorary fellow of New College, Oxford in 1946.

He was appointed Lord of Appeal in Ordinary 29 September 1950, and was created a life peer with the title Baron Tucker of Great Bookham in the County of Surrey.