Onesiphorous Tyndall

Onesiphorus Tyndall-Bruce formerly Tyndall, barrister, from Bristol. His family had been merchants and slave-traders who had opened Bristol's first bank in 1750. Tyndall-Bruce was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. . He and his wife lived latterly in Falkland village, in Scotland. He was also permitted, by Royal licence, to add the name 'Bruce' after his own. Tyndall-Bruce was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1831. His was a Quaker family. Collection of the Public General Statutes Passed in the Sixth and Seventh Year of the Reign of His Majesty King Williams the Fourth 1836 By Great Britain, LAWS STATUTES His name appears in this 1836 list of Land Tax Commissioners Names. Born: Bristol, England 1790  Baptised: St Michael's, Bristol, England 11th Mar 1790 Died: , , , Falkland Isles 19th Mar 1855  Buried: Parish church, , , , Falkland Isles 28th Mar 1855 Family:  Tyndall-Bruce  Onesiphorus Tyndall Bruce Onesiphorus Tyndall (1790-1855) was born in Bristol, where his family had been merchants, slave traders and bankers. Educated at Eton and Oxford, he became an impecunious barrister, with debts amounting to £50,000. In 1828 he married Margaret Steuart Hamilton Bruce (1788-1869), the illegitimate daughter of Lt Col Sir Robert Hamilton Bruce by an Indian lady. Her father had died when she was 8 years old, and she was adopted by her uncle, John Hamilton Bruce, Professor of Logic at the University of Edinburgh and proprietor of Falkland. On her uncle's death in 1826, Margaret inherited, becoming proprietor of Falkland, Nuthill and Myres, very wealthy, and Hereditary Keeper of Falkland Palace. Her uncle had disapproved of Onesiphorus because of his large debts, but when Margaret married him two years after her uncle's death she paid off his debts and made him an allowance. Onesiphorus took her surname in addition to his own, and in 1839 they commissioned William Burn to build the new NO2407 : House of Falkland, replacing Nuthill House where they had lived until then. They also managed their estates well, improving and extending the farms, and earning the approval of the people. They paid for the building of the present Falkland Parish church, and Onesiphorus was commemorated by a prominent monument on the Lomond Hills NO2207 : Tyndall Bruce Monument, as well as by this statue next to the church. Both Onesiphorus and Margaret are buried in the parish kirkyard. Letters to Bristol Merchants Letters sent to Isaac Hobhouse and OnesiphorousTyndall, Bristol merchants, from their agents in the WestIndies survive for the period 1723–1736. Three of the letters are from Kingston, Jamaica and one is from South Carolina – they contain references to the slave trade. Ref: 8029/16