Edward Tufnell

Edward Wyndham Tufnell (3 October 1814 – 3 December 1896) was the first Bishop of Brisbane.^[1]

Early life

Tufnell was born on 3 October 1814 in Bath, Somerset^[2] and educated at Eton and Wadham College, Oxford.^[3] He was the son of a banker, John Charles Tufnell, and Uliana Ivanova Margaret Fowell, who had a total of eighteen children.

Ecclesiastical career

Ordained a priest in 1839, his first posts were curacies at Broadwindsor and Broad Hinton.^[4] After this he held incumbencies at Beechingstoke^[5] and Marlborough.^[6] He was then appointed to the colonial episcopate, serving from 1859 to 1874.^[7]

Front view of Riversleigh, North Quay, Brisbane, c. 1931

In Brisbane in 1863, Edward Tufnell commissioned architect Benjamin Backhouse to build the house Riversleigh on North Quay as an investment.^[8]

Tufnell returned to England in 1874. In 1882 he became the vicar of Felpham near Bognor Regis and in 1888 he paid for the school to move to a new site in Felpham Way. The school is still named after him,^[9] but moved again in 1957. The rector's vestry at St Mary's Church^[10] was erected in 1899 as a memorial to him.

Marriage and family

Tufnell married his cousin, Laura Tufnell, who was the daughter of John Jolliffe Tufnell of Langleys, Essex. They had two children: Arthur Wyndam Tufnell, who was murdered in India while travelling on a train to Simla; and Ida Mary Uliana Mary Tufnell, who married Henry Arthur Wansborough, a priest. Laura Tufnell was the sister of Maria Tufnell, who married Edward Strutt,^[11] founder of Strutt and Parkers estate agents. Maria was lady-in-waiting to Queen Charlotte. Tufnell died on 3 December 1896.^[12]

References

1. Queensland Consolidated Acts. Austlii.edu.au. Retrieved on 26 August 2011.
2. “A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland enjoying territorial possessions or high official rank” Burke,J: London, Henry Colburn, 1838
3. "The Clergy List, Clerical Guide and Ecclesiastical Directory" London, Hamilton & Co 1889
4. ADB on line. Trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved on 26 August 2011.
5. British history on-line. British-history.ac.uk (3 March 1972). Retrieved on 26 August 2011.
6. Project Canterbury. Anglicanhistory.org. Retrieved on 26 August 2011.
7. “Bishop Tufnell and Queensland education, 1860–1874” Lawry,J.R: Melbourne, Monash University, 1966
8. Unidentified (1931), Front view of Riversleigh, North Quay, Brisbane, ca. 1931, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, retrieved 4 March 2015
9. School web-site. Bishoptufnell.w-sussex.sch.uk. Retrieved on 26 August 2011.
10. Church website. Stmarys-felpham.co.uk. Retrieved on 26 August 2011.
11. The Peerage – Edward Strutt. Thepeerage.com. Retrieved on 26 August 2011.
12. The Times, Friday, 4 Dec 1896; pg. 6; Issue 35065; col D Obituary E.W. Tufnell DD