The family line goes back to 1066 when Roger de Toeni came from France as a standard bearer to the duke of Normandy, and his son took the name Robert de Stafford. His son, Nicholas de Stafford, became the Sherriff of Staffordshire.

The Tunnicliff name appears to have originated in the Midlands of England in about 1549. At this time Thomas Tunaclif was born with the assumed father being Lorde Stafford. (this information comes from a small booklet published by Jean Sutton of Nelson, New Zealand, and the original reference is parish register, Parish of Whally, Lancs. )

Our branch of the family commenced with Thomas and Hannah Tunnicliff sailing from England to New Zealand in 1841.

Look in the Photo gallery for a scan of the family tree. The writing is small, but if you print pages 1 & 2 and join them together, they should be readable (just!)

 

I have also tried a program called GENI to show the Family Tree. It is one of these free sites so beware the adverts that pop up.

Click the link below to view, and scroll or drag names.