Thomas Tyndall

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

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

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]

  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.