How to use this site

Thank you for visiting my website.

I have set up this site to tell the story of my grandfather Tom Tunaley (b. 1882) and my gandmother Maggie Simpson (b.1885) who married in Manchester in 1908 and emigrated to Victoria, Australia in 1911.

I'm researching this aspect of Tunaley family history because I want to understand better why Tom and Maggie made the decisions that changed the course of their own lives and affected the lives of many other people, not the least of whom was their two year-old son John Charles Tunaley, the child they left behind.

I'm slowly piecing together their story, drawing on the work of other Tunaley family researchers (eg. Phil Tunaley, Mrs Shirley Tunaley, Dr Jane Holmes and Marcus Tunaley), my own research online and the memories, keepsakes and photographs of family members such as June Naylor, Diane Tully and John Tunaley, who have generously spent time with me.

On this website, I'm sharing what I find, as I go, in the form of short articles presented as blog posts. Each post is different, some are focused on a person at a time of their life (eg. 1885: From Yorkshire about Maggie's childhood) while others are about a topic or theme (eg. 1912: This is our House Mary).

The posts are not arranged in chronological order, so I have included a year date in the headings to indicate roughly where each story sits.

Eventually, a more complete life story of Tom Tunaley and Maggie Simpson might emerge from all these posts, but for now, there are still gaps.

A family tree would obviously be helpful, but I don't know how to give you one. Phil Tunaley's website does a great job of explaining the Tunaley family tree so I recommend going there to find out more.

Here's a list the main characters of my posts their family groups, colour-coded by generation:

John Tunaley (b.1813) m. Sarah Wood (b.1822):

1. Matthew Henry Tunaley (b. 1848)

2. John Charles Tunaley (b. 1850)

3. Thomas Gronow Tunaley (b.1851)

4. Elizabeth Tunaley (b. 1854)

5. Sarah Gronow Tunaley (b. 1857)

6. Mary Thomason Tunaley (b. 1857)

7. Catherine Tunaley (b. 1860)

8. Alexandra Edith Tunaley (b. 1863)

John Charles Tunaley (b. 1850) m. Mary Ann Fletcher (b.1850):

1. Sarah Tunaley (b. 1877)

2. Edith Fletcher Tunaley (b.1878)

3. John Henry Tunaley (b. 3 July 1880)

4. Tom Tunaley (b.1882)

5. Beatrice Tunaley   (b.1884)

6. James Tunaley (b.1886)

Elizabeth Tunaley (b. 1854) m. George Jarvis Smith (b. 1845): 

1. William (Bill) John Smith (b. 1884)

2. Dorothy Smith (b. 1887)

3. Stanley (b. 1890).

William Rodgers Simpson (b. 1855) m. Sarah Gillance (b. 1855):

1. Margaret Eliza Ann (Maggie) Simpson (b. 1855)

2. Pauline Simpson (died in infancy)

Tom Tunaley (b.1882) m. Margaret Eliza Ann (Maggie) Simpson (b.1885):

1. John Charles Tunaley (b.1909)

2. William Simpson Tunaley (b.1911)

3. Edith Pauline Tunaley (b. 1914)

4. Thomas Stanley Tunaley (b.1916)

5. Mary Victoria Tunaley (b.1919)

6. Geoffrey Tunaley (b. 1924)

7. Margaret Tunaley (b. 1927)

William (Bill) John Smith (b. 1884) m. Harriet Armstrong:

1. Dorothy (b. 1908)

2. Beatrice (b. 1914)

3. Ted (b.1922?)

More information

The earliest records of the Tunaley family date back to Derby where Tunaleys were silk dyers in the 18th Century.

Tom Tunaley's father John Charles Tunaley (b.1850) was born in Derby but moved to Manchester when he was four years old. His children grew up Manchester, so Tom is part of the Manchester branch of the Tunaley family.

The various 'branches' of the Tunaley family are listed on the home page (in lower left corner) of Phil Tunaley's comprehensive website: http://www.tunaleyfamily.com

Information about the Tunaley family is also collated on Marcus Tunaley's website: http://tunaley.com