Edward Lant Tyndall

Prominently connected with philanthropic causes, and particularly with those connected with temperance, religious and social matters. A direct representative of the Tyndall, the martyr and Bible translator. An active member of the Old Meeting Church. For many years the principal partner in the firm of Messrs Tyndall & Co., solicitors. Director of this cemetery. Son of Henry Witton Tyndall.

The memorial inscription reads:-

In memory of Hannah wife of Thomas TYNDALL who departed this life October 7th 1856 in her 71st year. Also the above Thomas TYNDALL who departed this life January 15th 1868 aged 87 years. Also their son Henry Witton TYNDALL who departed this life November 1st 1885 aged 72 years. Also of Emma widow of the above named Henry Witton TYNDALL who died December 22nd 1904 in the 95 year of her age. Cremated at Perry Barr December 26th 1904 the ashes are deposited here. "She did what she could." "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God." Also of Edward Lant TYNDALL the son of Henry Witton & Emma TYNDALL who died on the 2nd June 1912 aged 71 years and his beloved wife Elizabeth who died December 1st 1919 aged 75 years

Thomas TYNDALL was a well-known solicitor. Director of the B'ham Gas Company. Commissioner in Bankruptcy in B'ham until the establishment of the Courts of Bankruptcy in 1842. Commissioner of the B'ham Street Act. Low Bailiff 1835. He was interested in all efforts to raise mankind. Born at Holloway Head January 13th 1781. (Manning). Henry Witton TYNDALL: Well-known and highly respected Solicitor. Took an active part in all public questions. In 1843 he greatly exerted himself in passing of the Dissenter's Chapel Bill. One of the earliest of George Dawson's friends in B'ham and Hon. Sec. Of the Church of the Saviour Building Committee. (Manning).

Edwards ancestor William Tyndale (1494 – 1536)

William Tyndale gave us our English Bible. Forbidden to work in England, Tyndale translated and printed in English the New Testament and half the Old Testament between 1525 and 1535 in Germany and the Low Countries. He worked from the Greek and Hebrew original texts when knowledge of those languages in England was rare. His pocket-sized Bible translations were smuggled into England, and then ruthlessly sought out by the Church, confiscated and destroyed. Condemned as a heretic, Tyndale was strangled and burned outside Brussels in 1536.

Tyndale's English translation of the New Testament was taken almost word for word into the much praised Authorised Version (King James Bible) of 1611, which also reproduces a great deal of his Old Testament. From there his words passed into our common understanding.

People across the world honour him as a great Englishman, unjustly condemned and still unfairly neglected. His solitary courage, and his skill with languages - including, supremely, his own - enriched English history in ways still not properly examined, and then reached out to affect all English-speaking nations.

His influence has been as wide as Shakespeare's. His phrases are so well-known that they are often thought to be proverbial - 'let there be light', 'we live and move and have our being', 'fight the good fight', 'the signs of the times', 'the powers that be', 'a law unto themselves', and hundreds more. The familiar words telling the great Bible stories are usually Tyndale's.