page_title: Tyndall
section_title: Philosopher, historian and judge
hierarchical_section_title: Tyndall / The Tindal/Tindal-Carill-Worsley family / Philosopher, historian and judge
caption_attribution_description: English: judge tindals statue in tindal square chelmsford alonside tindal street.
context_page_description: Tyndall is the name of an English family taken from the land they held as tenants in chief of the Kings of England and Scotland in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries: Tynedale, or the valley of the Tyne, in Northumberland. With origins in the ancient Anglo Saxon nobility of Northumbria, the Royal Scottish House of Dunkeld and the Anglo-Norman nobility, they have contributed courtiers, judges, writers, historians, sailors, airmen, scientists and philosophers to the history of England, Ireland and the new world. Two members of the family were offered, and declined, the throne of Bohemia in the 15th century and one of their number, William Tyndale, was the first modern translator of the Bible into English and one of the most important figures in the evolution of the modern language. The family is spread today throughout the British Isles and the English speaking world.
context_section_description: 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 prosporous 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.
caption: Statue of Sir Nicolas Tindal
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