Derivation The senior branch of the English Tyndall family, last seated at Mapplestead Magna in the 17th century, died out in the direct male line in the 17th century and in the female line over a hundred years later. The senior English branch is thus the Tindal (now Tindal-Carill-Worsley) family, whose history is related in the 1973 volume of
Burke's Landed Gentry. This family derived from Rev John Tindal, rector of Bere Ferris, Devon, in the mid-17th century, said (in the
Nichols genealogy) to have been the younger son of Sir John Tyndall of Mapplestead, the brother of Dean Humphrey Tyndall, president of Queens' College, Cambridge. There is, however, support for the contention that Rev. John was the son of Sir John's elder son Dean. Rev John's migration to Devon (after his studies for Holy Orders) was typical of the many migrations of the Tyndall/Tyndale/Tindal/Tindell family since the late 15th century. The use of 'Tindal' represents a more Latinised usage which was common amongst many literary figures in this era and there is evidence that it was first used by his sons, Matthew (1657–1733), Thomas (1658–1714) and Richard (1659–1697). Matthew had been described as 'Tyndall' when at Oxford University in 1688; two of his brothers, Thomas and Richard, emigrated to Fenwick's Colony in 1674 and his other brother, John, was the father of Rev Nicolas Tindal (see below). . Rev John Tindal married Ann Hals, who was descended from the
Fortescue and
Clifford families and was the first cousin of
Thomas, Lord Clifford,
Lord High Treasurer of England to
Charles II. Through this connection and those of Diana Pocklington, the wife of Capt George Tindal, RN, Lord Chief Justice Tindal (see below) was descended from Lords Chief Justices Sir William Yelverton and Sir
John Fortescue and from Sir
Roger Manwood,
Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer.
Philosopher, historian and judge Dr Matthew Tindal (1657–1733), a Fellow of
All Souls College, Oxford, where he lived for most of his life, was an important figure in the early English
Enlightenment. Born during the
Commonwealth to the above-mentioned Rev John Tindal, he appears to have been an opportunist in his youth, turning to
Rome under
James II. However, he later wrote the foundation of English
deist thought,
Christianity as Old as the Creation, later known as the "Deist's Bible". This seminal tract, which had enduring influence on
German deism in particular, represented that no true religion could rely on any doctrines that could not be divined through human reason. Thus, Christianity, if a true religion, has no need of revelation to support its
dogmas and must be as old as the Creation. His writings provoked scandal and his book was burned by the public hangman, in addition to provoking a number of replies. Dr Tindal's nephew,
Rev Nicolas Tindal (1687–1774), was the translator and continuer of the History of England by
Paul de Rapin. Very few comprehensive histories existed at the time and Tindal wrote a three volume "Continuation", a history of the Kingdom from the reign of James II to that of
George II. Something of a controversialist, he was also known for having been defrauded of his uncle's inheritance by Eustace Brugnell, leading to some lines of
Alexander Pope. Rector of two livings, Chaplain of
Greenwich Hospital and a Fellow of
Trinity College, Oxford, Tindal was sufficiently prosperous to allow his son, Capt George Tindal
RN to settle in Coval Hall,
Chelmsford. Capt George Tindal's grandson,
Rev William Tindal (1756–1804), was a Fellow of
Trinity College, Oxford and chaplain of the
Tower of London. An antiquarian, he published a history of
Evesham Abbey. Another of George's grandsons,
Sir Nicolas Conyngham Tindal (1776–1846), was
Lord Chief Justice from 1829 to 1845. His career first came to public notice when he acted for
Queen Caroline in the famous attempt of
George IV to divorce her in the
House of Lords. Shortly afterwards, he was elected to
Parliament, serving as
Solicitor General for five years. Whilst Lord Chief Justice, he sat in the famous case of
Daniel M'Naghten, who had attempted to assassinate
Robert Peel, and derived from the
common law the defence of
insanity. . Sir Nicolas's second son,
Vice Admiral Louis Symonds Tindal (1810–1876), joined the
Royal Navy as a boy, in 1825 and had an adventurous, wide-ranging and distinguished career. Promoted lieutenant in 1832, by 1836 he was in the sloop 'Vestal' on the North American station and later the sloop 'Calliope' on the South American station. In 1841 he was in China, where he was present at the
Battle of Chuenpi, the storming of Wampea reach and at attacks on Canton. In recognition of his role in these raids, he was promoted commander that year and given command of the sloop 'Pylades', which he brought home from the east in 1843. In 1846 he commanded the brig-sloop 'Grecian' to open the South American station, returning in 1849. He was promoted captain in 1852, rear-admiral in 1868 and vice-admiral in 1874.
Australian Tindals Sir Nicolas's youngest brother, Charles, a commander in the
Royal Navy, became Governor of the
Bank of England in the west of England. His son,
Charles Grant Tindal (1823–1914) was a successful cattle breeder, meat processor and landowner. Having started his career on explorations of
New South Wales, he leased a cattle station before buying the Ramornie station on the Orana River, near Grafton in NSW. In addition to cattle breeding, he was a highly successful breeder of racehorses, both in Australia and England, where he retained his father's property of Fir Grove,
Hampshire. At its peak, Charles's meat processing company slaughtered 35,000 beasts a year and was well established on the English market. Charles's descendants remain in Australia to this day (although several Australian Tyndalls descend from the Irish branch of the family). One, Wing Cdr Archibald Tindal, who was killed during the
bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942, became the first
RAAF airman to be killed on the Australian mainland during World War II. After the war, ''Carson's Airfield
, located approximately south-east from Darwin, was renamed RAAF Base Tindal'' in his honour.
Modern era Sir Nicolas ultimately left no descendants in the male line, though a branch of the Bosanquet family are his descendants and
Reginald Bosanquet, the broadcaster for
ITN, was his great-great-grandson. Members of the main branch of the English family descend from his brother, Thomas Tindal of Aylesbury,
Clerk of the Peace for
Buckinghamshire. He married Anne, the daughter of Acton Chaplin, Clerk of the Peace for Buckinghamshire. Chaplin was a great-great-grandson of Sir Francis Chaplin,
Lord Mayor of London in 1677 and the great-grandfather of
Sir Arthur Havelock, Governor of
Sierra Leone and
Tasmania. Thomas's son, Acton Tindal,
Lord of the Manor of
Aylesbury, married Henrietta Euphemia Harrison, an eminent poet and descendant of
Francis Turner, one of the seven Bishops to defy
James II and his Declaration of Indulgences,
Sir Francis Windebank, Secretary of State to
Charles I, and
Sir Edmund Plowden, the eminent Elizabethan
jurist. Acton's son, Nicolas, married Elizabeth Carill-Worsley, heiress of
Platt Hall near
Manchester and the family adopted the name Tindal-Carill-Worsley. Elizabeth was a descendant of
Erasmus Darwin,
the 2nd Earl of Portmore, the
Lord Monteagle who foiled the
Gunpowder Plot and
Charles Worsley of Platt, one of
Oliver Cromwell's most trusted Major Generals, to whom was entrusted the Mace when Cromwell famously cried 'rid me of that bauble' in expelling the House of Commons in 1652. The current head of the English family is Charles Tindal of Ballyloughan (he does not use 'Carill-Worsley'), son of
Group Captain Nicolas Tindal-Carill-Worsley (1911–2006), a bomber pilot during World War II and one of the organisers of the "Great Escape" from
Stalag Luft III. His brother, Anthony, son, Matthew and niece and nephew William and Harriet together run Tindal Wines in England and Ireland. (See also
Darwin–Wedgwood family) ==Irish branch and distinguished individuals==