Although he had no connection with Cocking in particular, nor Sussex in general, I considered that the story of Rev. Robert Tindall’s tragic death and the life of his family deserved to be told. Unfortunately, there a several gaps in his story, including his life between his ordination and first arrival at Empshott.
Robert Tindall (sometimes recorded as Tyndale) was born in Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and baptised at St Mary’s Church, Beverley on 20 October 1808.
Family background
His parents were recorded on the baptism records as George and Sarah Tindall; these are probably the George Tindall and Sarah Burn who were married in Beverley Minster on 30 December 1807.
Shortly after the birth of Robert, George Tindall acquired the business of George Gardiner, Nursery and Seedsman of Beverley. Sadly, this business venture failed and in September 1830, George and his brother, William, now a partner in the business, were declared bankrupt.
George is possibly the George Tindall whose death was reported at Beverley on 11 September 1841. Little else is known for certain about the family, such as details of other children or Sarah’s death.
Education
Robert was educated at Horncastle and Beverley schools before going up to Cambridge University where he was admitted to St John’s College as a ‘pensioner’Note 1 on 2 July 1828, aged 19, and matriculated in the Michaelmas term of 1829.
Robert graduated as Bachelor of Arts in 1840, and his degree was conferred at a congregation held at the university on 23 May 1840.
Clerical career
On Trinity Sunday, 14 June 1840, Robert Tindall was ordained as a deacon in Lincoln Cathedral by the Bishop of Lincoln, The Right Reverend John Kaye. On 19 December 1841, he was ordained as a priest, again at Lincoln Cathedral.
There is no further record of Robert’s occupation until Monday, 5 April 1847, when he is recorded as curate in the parish register for The Holy Rood Church at Empshott in east Hampshire, when he conducted the marriage of John Greentree and Mary Ann Pannell. The following Sunday, he baptised George Gardiner.
It is not clear when Robert became vicar at Empshott – he first signs the parish register as vicar in December 1849, prior to which he simply signed his name. He remained at Empshott for the rest of his life.
Marriage and children
On 2 August 1848, at The Holy Rood Church, Empshott, Robert Tindall, aged 39, married 23-year old Eliza Moss.
Eliza was born at Sutton, near Ely, in Cambridgeshire in May 1825, the daughter of Edward Moss, a miller, and his wife, Mary.
The couple had nine children:
Susan Catherine, baptised at Empshott on 13 May 1849
Paul Joshua, baptised at Empshott on 28 July 1850
Eleanor Victoria, baptised at Empshott on 4 January 1852
Hester, and Edith (twins), baptised at Empshott on 22 May 1853
John Lancaster, baptised at Empshott on 8 July 1855
Godfrey Maurice, baptised at Empshott on 12 September 1858
Margaret Clara, baptised at Empshott on 1 July 1861
Lilias, baptised at Empshott on 5 April 1863
At the 1851 census, the family (Robert, Eliza and their two oldest children) were living at Empshott Vicarage, together with two female servants.
Ten years later, the two eldest daughters were living with their parents, as were the two younger sons. 10-year old Paul was now a pupil at St John’s Foundation School, Hackney. 7-year old twins Hester and Edith were pupils at the Ockham Industrial School, near Guildford. [This had been established by Lady Byron “to provide access for the disadvantaged to vocational training in a range of disciplines including cabinet making and sewing”.]
Death and burial
On Thursday 28 January 1864, Thomas Clement walked two miles from Empshott to visit his friend, Walter Butler, a gentleman farmer at Bradshott Hall. Shortly before arriving at the house, he tripped and fell, injuring his chest and stomach. He was carried into the house, and a doctor was summoned, but Thomas failed to recover and died two days later from a lacerated intestine. He was 55 years old.
His funeral was held at Holy Rood Church, Empshott on 4 February 1864; the funeral service was conducted by Rev. Frederick Harvey Freeth, the vicar at Liss.
The vacancy at Empshott was advertised with indecent haste. On 6 February 1864, less than a week after the death of Robert Tindall, the vacancy was listed in The Cambridge Independent Press at an income of £185 p.a. [The vacancy was filled by Thomas Clement in July 1864.]
Subsequent family history
Following the death of her husband, Eliza was left a widow at 38, with nine children under 15, the youngest of whom was not yet a year old.
Shortly afterwards, the following advertisement appeared in several local newspapers:
The appeal soon reached the Prince of Wales, and on 9 March he made a donation of £30 towards the fund. On 19 March, the Hampshire Chronicle reported that the fund had received contributions of £120 “in this city” (Winchester). Various events were held to raise funds, including a talk at Basingstoke Town Hall on 19 April by Rev. Francis Osbern Giffard, vicar of Hartley Wintney, on “Ghosts”.
The eldest son, Paul, was training as an engineer when he died at Ventnor, Isle of Wight, on 10 February 1868, aged 17. The cause of death was phthisis (tuberculosis).
On 28 November 1870, Eliza returned to her home village of Sutton, where she married 64-year old widower William Bell, a farmer. This marriage was short lived as William died in 1880. At the 1871 census, Eliza was living with William Bell at West End in Ely.
After the death of her second husband, Eliza moved into Cambridge to live at Adam & Eve Street, before returning to the Ely district. She died at Littleport, six miles north of Ely, in March 1893, aged 67.
In 1871, John Lancaster Tindall was now a naval cadet onboard HMS Conway, a training ship moored off Rock Ferry on the River Mersey. In August 1872, he was indentured to Williamson & Co. of Liverpool, for a 4-year term. He was discharged at San Francisco in March 1877. He settled in Australia where he married Frances Caldwell in December 1883. The couple had seven children. John Tindall died in Nyngan, New South Wales in July 1920.
At the time of the 1871 census, the youngest son, 12-year old Godfrey Maurice Tindall was a pupil at Christ’s Hospital, then in Christchurch, London. He too emigrated to Australia, where he died in Heidelberg, Victoria in 1892.
In 1871, all six of Robert Tindall’s daughters were living at Winnington Hall, a school for girls at Northwich, Cheshire. The then proprietors of the school were Margaret Alexis Bell (1818–1889) and Mary Francis Bradford (1839–1913).
The eldest daughter, Susan Catherine (aged 21) was recorded on the census as an assistant at the school. 19-year old Eleanor Victoria (shown as Eartha) and the 17-year old twins, Hester (shown as Jane) and Edith (shown as Minel) were all listed as “adopted daughter” of Margaret Alexis Bell and as students at the school.
The two younger daughters, 9-year old Margaret Clara and 7-year old Lilias were both recorded as wards of Margaret Bell and as pupils at the school.
Susan Catherine Tindall emigrated to Australia; she never married and died in Granville, New South Wales in November 1925.
Eleanor Victoria Tindall emigrated to Australia where she arrived at Melbourne on board the SS Chimborazo on 12 March 1878. Two days later, the Chimborazo ran aground on rocks at Jervis Bay, as it continued its journey to Sydney. Fortunately, no lives were lost and the vessel was repaired and returned to service. [For more information see “S.S Chimborazo ran headlong into Point Perpendicular”.]
Eleanor later returned to England and by the 1901 census was living in lodgings in Longridge Road, Earls Court. Her occupation was recorded as “artist”. Ten years later she was living on her own at 7 Campden Houses, Peel Street, Kensington, where she was still resident in 1921, now a retired artist (aged 69). She continued to live there until her death on 5 April 1936, aged 84.
Hester Tindall also emigrated to Australia. She never married and died in Ryde, Sydney in June 1933.
Edith Tindall emigrated to Australia where she married Bradwen Eyton Bradwyn from Anglesey, Wales at Petersham, New South Wales on 16 March 1895. She died at Epping, Sydney in August 1932.
In the early 1870s, the school at Wilmington Hall was closed. After briefly moving to Ashcombe Lodge, Weston-Super-Mare, Margaret Alexis Bell and Mary Francis Bradford moved to Hove, where they founded a new school at Powis Square, taking with them their two “wards”, Clara and Lilias.
According to press reports, the two girls had been apprenticed to Miss Bradford and Miss Bell, by their mother, “to be taught the business of a schoolmistress”, for which they received remuneration from the trust fund set up after the death of their father. In April 1874, the girls complained to their mother that they were being treated as “menial servants”, as a result of which their mother removed them from the school and enrolled them at St Mary’s Hall, Brighton, a school for the orphans of clergyman.
On 25 January 1875, Clara (aged 13) and Lilias (aged 11) were returning by train from Havant to Brighton when, apparently by coincidence, Mary Bradford boarded their train at Cliftonville (now Hove) Station and “induced” them to leave the train and go with her to Powis Square. When their mother, Eliza was told what had happened, she applied to the Court of Queen’s Bench, for a writ of Habeas Corpus to have the children given up to her.
Despite press reports to the contrary, which referred to the “Illegal Detention of Children”, the children were voluntarily given up by the two schoolteachers after the girls had admitted to telling lies and “expressed their regret and contrition for uttering the statements which had been used against their greatest benefactors”.
Nothing has been discovered about the later life of Margaret Clara Tindall. She may have been the Margaret Clare Tindall whose death, aged 16, was registered at Hitchin, Hertfordshire in June 1877.
On 1 June 1882, Lilias Tindall married John Perry at St Nicholas Church, Brighton (a few hundred yards from Powis Square). She was 19, while he was a 39-year old bank manager. The witnesses at the wedding included Lilian’s two brothers, John and Godfrey.
Lilias and John Perry settled at Crewkerne, Somerset where they had three children, including a son named Robert Lancaster Tyndale Perry after his uncle. Following the death of her husband in 1924, Lilias moved to West Sussex, settling at Worthing, where she died on 30 October 1950, aged 87.
Notes
- A pensioner was a student who paid for his tuition.
Sources
Ancestry.co.uk
1841 England Census
1851 England Census
1861 England Census
1871 England Census
1881 England Census
1891 England Census
1901 England Census
1911 England Census
1921 England Census
Cambridge University Alumni, 1261–1900
Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1924
Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1997
Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1950
East Sussex, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1936
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
Hampshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1921
Hampshire, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1921
Hampshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921
Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1914
UK, Apprentices Indentured in Merchant Navy, 1824-1910
West Sussex, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1963
ACAD (A Cambridge Alumni Database). TNDL828R2: Tindall, Robert
Altrincham Guardian: 6 February 1875. Court of Queen’s Bench
Andover Chronicle: 9 June 1882. Marriages
Australian Art Sales Digest: Eleanor V. Tindall
Bath Chronicle: 18 February 1875. The Case of the Young Ladies
Bell’s Weekly Messenger: 6 February 1875. Court of Queen’s Bench
Berkshire Chronicle:
16 April 1864. Lecture
23 April 1864. Basingstoke and North Hants
3 June 1882. Marriages
Bury & Norwich Post: 24 June 1840. Ordinations
Cambridge Chronicle: 24 December 1841. Ordinations
Cambridge General Advertiser:
3 June 1840. University Intelligence
24 June 1840. Ecclesiastical News
Cambridge Independent Press:
6 February 1864. Benefices and Appointments Vacant
Find a Grave:
Freereg.org.uk:
Beverley Parish Register: Baptism. Robert Tindall 1808
Hampshire Chronicle:
5 March 1864. Mayor of Winchester’s Appeal
19 March 1864. The Case of Distress at Empshott
26 March 1864. The Sad Case of Distress
15 October 1864. Notice to Creditors
Hull Advertiser: 20 October 1810. George Tindall. Nursery and Seedsman
Hull Packet: 24 September 1841. Deaths
Lincolnshire Chronicle: 26 March 1864. General Intelligence
London Courier: 25 May 1840. Cambridge University
London Evening Standard:
5 August 1848. Marriages
14 February 1868. Deaths
Morning Herald: 5 February 1864. Deaths
Morning Post: 25 December 1841. Ordination
Portsmouth Times:
2 February 1875. Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus
7 June 1882. Marriages
Reading Mercury:
16 April 1864. Lecture
23 April 1864. Basingstoke
Saints James’s Chronicle:
13 February 1864. Clerical Vacancies
19 March 1864. Ecclesiastical Intelligence
Salisbury & Winchester Journal:
6 February 1864. Deaths
19 March 1864. Donation from The Prince of Wales
Weston Mercury:
3 April 1875. Alleged Illegal Detention of Children. An Explanation
Weston-Super-Mare Gazette:
6 February 1875. Detention of Children by Schoolmistress
The Wey Valley: Ockham Industrial School
Worthing Herald: 2 February 1951. Wills
York Herald:
16 January 1808. Marriages
25 June 1831. Tindalls’ Bankruptcy
Yorkshire Gazette:
24 March 1832. Deaths
1 January 1842. Diocese of Lincoln
Photo Credits
Church of the Holy Rood: Geograph 3746811
Grave: findagrave.com
