Thomas Tyndall (bapt. 26 March 1723 – 17 April 1794) was an English merchant and banker from Bristol with extensive slave trade connections.

Royal Fort House in Bristol, built for Thomas Tyndall on an estate he inherited from his father.

Tyndall was the son of Onesiphorus Tyndall and Elizabeth Cowles and baptised in the Unitarian church.[1] Tyndall's father had been a founding partner in the Old Bank in Bristol, and Tyndall inherited a considerable legacy on his father's death in 1757. Tyndall also succeeded his father as a partner in the bank.[2][3] Tyndall's uncle William Tyndall was a slave factor in Jamaica, and owned a plantation with his business partner Richard Assheton.[4]

Tyndall commissioned the Royal Fort House in Tyndalls Park in Bristol, now part of the University of Bristol. The house was built around 1767.[5]

Tyndall's daughter Caroline married into another family heavily involved in the slave trade, the Brights.

Bristol University holds a painting of Tyndall and his wife and children, painted by Thomas Beach.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ Bristol, England, Non-Conformist Baptism, Marriage and Burial Registers, 1644–1981
  2. ^ "Tyndall, Onesiphorus (bap. 1689, d. 1757)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47857. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ "Bristol Past: Early Bristol banks". www.buildinghistory.org. Archived from the original on 3 May 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  4. ^ "Summary of Individual | Legacies of British Slave-ownership". www.ucl.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 18 October 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  5. ^ "Estates within 2 miles of Bristol | Profits | From America to Bristol | Slavery Routes | Bristol and Transatlantic Slavery | PortCities Bristol". www.discoveringbristol.org.uk. Archived from the original on 9 June 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Thomas Tyndall with Wife and Children". Art UK. Archived from the original on 18 October 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2020.