Field Marshal George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, PC (28 February 172414 September 1807), styled as the Viscount Townshend from 1764 to 1787, was a British Army officer and politician. After serving at the Battle of Dettingen during the War of the Austrian Succession and the Battle of Culloden during the Jacobite Rising, Townshend took command of the British forces for the closing stages of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham during the Seven Years' War. He went on to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland or Viceroy where he introduced measures aimed at increasing the size of Irish regiments, reducing corruption in Ireland and improving the Irish economy. In cooperation with Prime Minister North in London, he solidified governmental control over Ireland. He also served as Master-General of the Ordnance, first in the North Ministry and then in the Fox–North Coalition.

Military career

Early years

thumb|Arms of Townshend: Azure, a chevron ermine between three escallops argent

Born the son of Charles Townshend, 3rd Viscount Townshend, and Audrey Etheldreda Townshend (born Harrison), Townshend was educated at Eton College and St John's College, Cambridge. He joined the army as a volunteer in Summer 1743 and first saw action at the Battle of Dettingen in June 1743 during the War of the Austrian Succession. He became a captain in the 7th Regiment of Dragoons in April 1745 and saw action in the Netherlands. He fought at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746 during the Jacobite Rising, and having been appointed an aide-de-Camp to the Duke of Cumberland and having transferred to the 20th Regiment of Foot in February 1747, he took part in the Battle of Lauffeld in July 1747 during the later stages of the War of the Austrian Succession. Once the legislation had passed, Townshend and his family assisted the Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk, George Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford, in putting it into effect in the county. Orford nominated Townshend as Colonel of the West Norfolk Militia. Promoted to the rank of colonel in the army on 6 May 1758, he became colonel of the 64th Regiment of Foot in June 1759.), and was harshly criticized upon his return to Great Britain for that reason (Wolfe was a popular hero throughout the country). In the aftermath of his unpopular tour in Ireland, he found himself fighting a duel with Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont, an Irish Peer, on 2 February 1773, badly wounding the Earl with a bullet in the groin. Townshend became colonel of the 2nd Dragoon Guards in July 1773.

In 1779 Richard Edwards, Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador, began work on Fort Townshend, a fortification in Newfoundland and Labrador, naming it after Lord Townshend. Townshend stood down as Master-General of the Ordnance in March 1782 when the Marquess of Rockingham came to power but, having been promoted to full general on 26 November 1782, was restored to the post of Master-General of the Ordnance in the Fox–North Coalition in April 1783. Townshend became Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk in February 1792. He also became Governor of Kingston-upon-Hull in 1794 and Governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in July 1795. A peculiar tragedy befell Townshend in May 1796: his son, Lord Charles, had just been elected MP for Great Yarmouth, and he took a carriage to London with his brother, the Rev. Lord Frederick, the Rector of Stiffkey. During the journey, Lord Frederick inexplicably killed his brother with a pistol shot to the head and was ultimately adjudged insane. Promoted to field marshal on 30 July 1796, Townshend died at his family home, Raynham Hall in Norfolk on 14 September 1807 and was buried in the family vault there.

Family

On 19 December 1751, Townshend married Charlotte Compton, 16th Baroness Ferrers of Chartley (d. 1770), daughter of James Compton, 5th Earl of Northampton. They had eight children:

  • Lady Caroline
  • Lady Frances Townshend

He married Anne Montgomery, the daughter of Sir William Montgomery, 1st Baronet, on 19 May 1773. Anne was Mistress of the Robes to Caroline, Princess of Wales, from 1795 to 1820. They had six children:

  • Lady Charlotte Townshend (16 March 177630 July 1856), married the 6th Duke of Leeds.
  • Lady Honoria Townshend (1777–1826)
  • Lady Henrietta Townshend (died 9 November 1848)

Arms

References

Sources

Further reading

  • Bartlett, Thomas. "Viscount Townshend and the Irish Revenue Board, 1767-73." Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Section C (1979): 153–175. in JSTOR
  • Bartlett, T. "Opposition in late eighteenth-century Ireland: the case of the Townshend viceroyalty", Irish Historical Studies 22 (1980–81), 313–30 in JSTOR
  • Bartlett, T. "The augmentation of the army in Ireland, 1767–1769" English Historical review 96 (1981), 540–59 in JSTOR
  • Government House in Fort Townshend in Newfoundland
  • Guide to the George Townshend, Marquis Townshend, and Charlotte, Lady Townshend Collection 1763-1810 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center

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