Horatio Townsend (607)
| Date of Birth: | 11 Dec 1768 |
|---|---|
| Date of Death: | 17 Jan 1824 |
| Generation: | 5th |
| Residence: | London, Bridgemount (1) & Kinsale |
| Father: | Reverend Edward Synge (The Apostle) Townsend [601] |
| Mother: | Elizabeth Townsend [144] |
| Spouse: |
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| Issue: | |
| See Also: | Table VI ; Scrapbook ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree |
Notes for Horatio Townsend
Married Thursday 5 December 1799 at St Marylebone Church, London. His cousin, Elizabeth Trelawney Townsend [410] (2) who was the only daughter of Lieutenant General Samuel Townsend [403]. Elizabeth would have been living with her parents in Wimpole Street before they got married.
Horatio studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and the TCD Graduation List records that he qualified BA in Spring 1790. John Sealy Townsend [507] read for his LLD whilst Horatio was an undergraduate.
Trained as a barrister in London, Horatio never practiced though he remained there until 1815 - all the children were born in London (3) except Henrietta Townsend [688]. According to Edward Mansel Townshend [630] (4), Horatio's grandson, Elizabeth took the entire family from London to Kinsale, Co Cork in March 1816 where they joined their aged Grandfather and Grandmother, who had been living for some years retired in Bath before moving to Dennis's Quay in Kinsale. Also living there at the same time was Horatio's aunt Helena Townsend [619] and her husband, George Digby Daunt, who presented Elizabeth with an oak table made from wood reclaimed from Kinsale Parish Church.
Horatio might have lived in Dublin for a time for in a letter (5) to his father dated Dublin 18 August 1821 Chambre Corker Townsend [5D01] wrote about meeting Mrs Horace Townsend and her daughter Bessy - "a very nice little girl".
Horatio, or one of his brothers (6), was certainly living at Bridgemount in 1822 as "Townsend, a member of the Bridgemount family" testified at the infamous trial of the Clondrohid Whiteboys that same year.
Horatio died (7) intestate in Cork but according to his grandson, Edward Mansel Townshend, is buried in Dublin. Elizabeth spent the next eight years sorting out his estate and paying off his debts. The estate totalled some £16,000, of which £10,000 appears to have been Elizabeth's marriage settlement, the interest on which was deemed hers for life with the principal passing to her son Edward Townsend [620] on her death. Edward also inherited all the freehold properties in Ireland.
An entry in West's Cork Directory 1809-1810 under the heading 'Gentry, Merchants, Traders etc' on page 23 records "Townshend. Horace Esq. South Parade Terrace". Is this Horatio?
Horatio was a Freeman of the City of Cork. Between 1710 and 1841, when the power of admitting Freemen only by birth or right ceased, a total of thirty three members of the Townsend family were admitted as Freemen.
Elizabeth returned to England sometime after Horatio's death and from 1845 until she died in 1855 was living at 1 SW Buildings, Weston Lane, Bath.
Among the large volume of extant correspondence (8) in this branch of the family there is a letter dated 19 November 1855, written from 13 Morrison's Quay, Cork by Dr Edward Richard Townsend [6C00] concerning the sanity of Horatio. The letter, written ten years after Horatio died, is addressed to Dr Symonds, and reads "Lieutenant John Townsend's [622] father (ie Horatio) was never insane. There existed no hereditary predisposition to any mental disease in his family. I am acquainted with the history of every branch of it for nearly two hundred years and no case of lunacy has ever occurred in that time. Mr Horace Townsend … was the eldest son of a man of fortune and, although well educated, his temper naturally bad was never restrained and he became proud, morose and unkind to his friends. I attribute the increase of those feelings to mis-management in domestic arrangements. His brother placed him in a lunatic asylum here, but the late Dr Hallaran the medical inspector did not think him insane and discharged him in a very short time from that establishment". (9)
Horatio was a child of the first Townsend/Townsend cousin marriage in this branch of the family (10). Apart from his questionable mental stability it is interesting to note that instances of mental instability occur in three subsequent generations.
(1) Ordnance survey of Ireland. Discovery Series. 1:50,000. Map sheet 79, grid reference W294763.
(2) Elizabeth died on 2 February 1855.
(3) Of Horatio's twelve children six died within their first year. The place where the children were born show Horatio moved frequently. 1800 - Upper Wimpole Street. 1802 - Curzon Street. 1804 - Nottingham Place. 1806 - Upper Bedford Place. 1810 - Worthing. 1811 - Tenterden Street , Hanover Square. 1812 - Upper Berkley Street. 1813-1815 Quebec Street.
(4) Extract from 'A Protestant Auto-Biography by the Rev E Mansel Townshend'
(5) RBT Papers.
(6) Certainly not Richard Townsend [612] who died in 1808 and doubtfully Philip Townsend [613] who lived some way off.
(7) It was reported in the Connaught Journal of 29 January 1824 - "On the 17th inst., in the 55th year of his age, Horace Townshend, Esq. eldest son of the late Rev. Edward Synge Townshend."
(8) Llanvapley Papers.
(9) Under the first entry for 'Blackrock', Cork, 'Samuel Lewis' Topographical Directory 1837' records that "Here is a dispensary, and near Ballintemple are two private lunatic asylums. Cittadella, belonging to Joshua Bull, Esq., was established by the late Dr. Hallaran, in 1798, and has secluded pleasure grounds for the use of the patients."
(10) There were three other Townsend/Townsend cousin marriages in this branch of the family. Horatio himself and Elizabeth Trelawney Townsend. His eldest son Edward Townsend [620] and Isabella Townsend [5D08] and his son John Townsend [622] and Marianne Townsend [5D16].