Tindal was born in
Chelmsford on 14 May 1756; he was a son of James Tindal (died 1760), captain in the
4th Regiment of Dragoons, youngest son of
Nicholas Tindal. James married Miss Shenton, who, after his death, was married to Dr Smith, a physician at Cheltenham and Oxford. At four years of age William and his mother went to reside with her brother, a minor canon of Chichester, and six years later they moved to Richmond. In 1772 he matriculated from
Trinity College, Oxford, and was elected a scholar in the same year. He graduated B.A. in 1776 and M.A. in 1778, in which year he was ordained deacon and obtained a fellowship, which he held until his marriage. After serving as curate at
Evesham, he became rector of
Billingford in Norfolk in 1789, and in July 1792 he was also instituted to the rectory of
Kington, Worcestershire. In 1799 he exchanged the rectory of Billingford for the chaplainship of the
Tower of London. In the same year he was elected a fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries. Tindal committed suicide at the Tower on 16 September 1804, while in a state of mental depression. He married before 1794, and his wife survived him. ==Works==