Born in Pasewalk as a scion of the noble family von Tümpling, Wilhelm initially opted for a civilian career and studied law in Heidelberg. On 25 July 1830 he entered the Guard Corps as a candidate-officer and on 18 June 1831 he was appointed second lieutenant. In the fall of 1833 he went to the general war school and in 1837 was appointed to the topographical office. From 1839 he belonged to the general staff. In 1840 he was promoted to first lieutenant. On 12 April 1842, he was appointed to the General Staff of the VIII Army Corps in Koblenz with the rank of captain. From there, in 1848, now promoted to major, he was transferred to the Great General Staff in Berlin. In 1849 he took part in the campaign in Baden. In 1850 he was again in the field, firstas a staff officer in the 4th Dragoons Regiment, and in 1853 with his own command in the 5th Cuirassier Regiment. In 1854 Tümpling took command of the 1st Guard Uhlan Regiment in Potsdam. At the end of 1857 he was appointed colonel and commander of the 11th Cavalry Brigade in Breslau. Tümpling stayed there until in 1863 he took over the 5th division in Frankfurt an der Oder. In the Second Schleswig War in 1864, parts of his division came into combat at the Düppeler Schanzen and the occupation of Fehmarn, but he was not perqonally involved. During the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 Tümpling distinguished himself in the Battle of Gitschin, where he was wounded. For Gitchin he was awarded the Pour le Mérite. After the war he was governor-general of the occupied Kingdom of Saxony for a few weeks. In October 1866 Tümpling was given command of the VI Army Corps. At the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War the VI Army Corps was kept in Silesia in order to be a deterrent to Austria entering the war on the French side. After it became clear that Austria would not participate in the war, the corps moved to France in August 1870 and was assigned tpo the 3rd Army. When the 3rd Army moved north towards Sedan, Tümpling remained as flank protection. His task was to intercept retreating French formations so that they could not get to Paris. The French 13th Corps, however, managed to escape this trap and reach Paris. During the Siege of Paris, Tümpling held the southwestern section. In this area he was able to fight back a French outage in the Battle of Chevilly. After the war, Tümpling returned to Breslau with his corps. In 1883 Tümpling retired from the army due to his poor health. He died in 1884 in Talstein near Jena.
