William Henry Tindall

1820 Born in Finsbury, Middx., son of William Tindall and his wife Priscilla

1851 Willm Tindall 64, shipowner, lived in Deptford with Willm H J Tindall 30, Chas James Tindall 25, Susanna Tindall 17

1871 William H Tindall 50 , Shipowner, merchant, landowner, lived in Tunbridge Wells with Sophia Tindall 45, William Tindall 12, Godfrey Tindall 11, Edward Tindall 10, Rachel M Tindall 7, and his nephew Henry E Tindall 22, a visitor.

1891 Chairman of Lloyd's

1898 Member of Lloyd's Registry's Visiting Committee

1899 Died in Tunbridge Wells

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Notes on Tindall shipbuilders-

• The largest of Scarborough's yards was Tindall's situated in front of King Richard III's house. They built ocean-going ships mostly for their own company but also for other ports. They built a first class ship in every way and their timber was hand-picked and grown to shape at the Castle Howard estate. Between 1763 and 1862 this yard built two hundred ocean-going ships, their one hundredth ship being named the "CENTURION" launched in 1804. In 1857 they built the two largest ships ever constructed in Scarborough. They were the "NIMROD" for their Scarborough office and the "DIAMOND" for their London office. Both were sister ships of 1022 tons, each about the size of the timber ships that come here now. Tindall's built a floating pontoon to lift sailing vessels out of the water so bottom repairs could be done. This was eventually sold to Thomas Edward Hick who carried on the repair work to his own and other vessels. It was berthed in the Outer Harbour alongside Vincent Pier. As vessels grew larger it was found to be too small and old. The last two vessels to use it were the barques "CORAL ISLE" and "OLIVE BRANCH" before its disposal. The business also owned a dry dock in Millwall Dock, London where their ships were copper sheathed and overhauled. The unfortunate death of Richard Harris Tindall, the yard's Chief Designer, led to the closure and sale of the Scarborough yard in 1862, though William Henry Tindall continued the family shipping business at London. A young apprentice at the time, Edward (Harland) was forced to complete apprenticeship on Tyneside before joining up with Mr. Wolff to form the world-famous Harland & Wolff shipyard at Queen’s Island, Belfast. Following in Tindall’s footsteps they built only the finest ships. In 1863 they built the iron barques ‘Palestine’ and “Boyne’ - the former for William Tindall of Scarborough, the latter for the London business. The last ocean-going vessel built by the Scarborough yard was the "CLYDE", which was launched in 1863.

• It is not surprising that with their shipping interests the Tindall family should be the largest shipowners in Scarborough. At one time they had nearly one hundred ships out of Scarborough and another one hundred out of Tokenhouse Yard, their London office. Their ships traded mainly with Persia, India and China and they also owned the whaler "RAVENSBOURNE". A fleet of Tindall ships were used as transports in the American War of Independence, the "HARMONY", the "SYMMETRY", the "EMERALD", the "DIANA" and the "OCEAN" are named. After unloading her guns the crew of the Emerald helped man the town's defences in the attack on Yorktown. The order came to scuttle the Emerald and probably the Diana and after Yorktown had fallen to the Americans and French, Robert Tindall and the survivors of the Emerald crew were taken prisoners and later returned to Scarborough. Only the "Ocean", under command of Captain Willis, broke through the blockade and escaped to Jamaica - the last British vessel to escape from America. Tindalls' vessels were also used by the government as transports in the Crimean War.

• 'The launching of the vessel, the Clyde, from the Tindall shipyard in 1863 marked the end of a long tradition of big-ship construction at the port. Shipbuilding boomed at Scarborough when expanding coal production in Northumberland and Durham in the 18th century boosted the demand for coasting collier vessels. Local builders could turn them out at half the price of yards on the Thames. By the early 19th century there were 11 shipyards and boatyards between Bland's Cliff and the shore end of the East Pier. Tindall’s was the biggest yard, and other leading local shipbuilders were the Heward and Wharton families, William Newham, John Skelton, George Dale-Smith and G. W. Porritt. The Tindalls were also substantial shipowners, and they built the Clyde for themselves. What put paid to the construction of big ships at Scarborough were changes in building methods and design — especially the development of iron vessels and a trend towards bigger ships, which the local yards couldn’t handle. After 1863 local builders tended to concentrate on fishing craft, usually yawls and cobles.'

1809 'The Quaker burial ground’s first inhabitant was John Tindall, 54, a Scarborough shipbuilder, who was interred on 20 November'

1858 Died. 'James Tindall, Esq., the eldest partner of the firm of Messrs. J. & R. Tindall, shipbuilders, of this town. He was the third son of the late John Tindall, Esq., and married his cousin Sarah, daughter of Robert Tindall, Esq., who survives him. has left two sons, James and Edward, and one daughter married Dr. Wright, of New Malton.'

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