Horatio Townsend (6B01)
| Date of Birth: | 20 Aug 1783 |
|---|---|
| Date of Death: | 16 Jun 1864 |
| Generation: | 5th |
| Residence: | Firmount (1) & Woodside, (1a) Co Cork |
| Father: | Samuel Philip Townsend [6B00] |
| Mother: | Robinson, Helena |
| Spouse: |
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| Issue: | |
| See Also: | Table VIB ; Scrapbook ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree |
Notes for Horatio Townsend DL JP
Married 1st 1808. Katherine Morris (d 1816) was the daughter of Sir Abraham Morris of Dunkettle,(2 & 2a) near Cork. (See ‘A Guide to Irish Houses’ by M. Bence-Jones, London, 1988 – “GLANMIRE cor Dunkathel. Trant - Morris 1785+. Built by Abraham Morris M.P., a Cork merchant. The previous house was built by Dominick Trant.”) Katherine's grandmother was Mary Townsend [308] and her aunt Mary Morris married John Townsend [214]. Married 2nd 1822. Henrietta Margaret Chetwood (3) was the daughter of Reverend John Chetwood,(4) Rector of Rathcooney near Glanmire, Co Cork.
Page 318 of Francis G Tuckey's "Tuckey's Cork Remembrancer" records that Horatio was High Sheriff of County Cork in 1840 - 'Joseph Cappi Fitzgerald, of Cloghroe, died in office and was succeeded by Horatio Townsend of Woodside.' The County of Cork and City Almanac 1843 page 73 shows that he was still High Sheriff in 1843 and was a member of the Governing Board for the Lunatic Asylum. The Almanac also shows on page 107 that he was a member of the Committee of the County Cork Agricultural Association. Like his father Samuel, Horatio was a keen and competent agriculturalist - the Almanac contains a letter about farming to Horatio from Mr Carnegie along with an editor's comment which reads "We feel great pleasure in giving a place to the following letter from Mr Carnegie...it is written to a gentleman equally eminent as Mr C for being a very good practical agriculturalist". Thom's Irish Almanac and Official Directory for the Year 1862 shows ‘Townsend, Horatio, Woodside, Blarney, Cork’ as a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Cork, a Magistrate, County Assessment (Cess) Collector East Muskerry, Governor of the District Lunatic Asylum and former High Sheriff.
Horatio purchased Woodside from the Carleton Family in 1844. Webber Carleton the son of John Carlton and Penelope Dunscombe of Woodside, Co Cork was born about 1778 in Woodside, Co Cork. He married Mildred Townsend [6A08] who was a cousin to Horatio. Mildred died in 1822 and it can only be assumed that one of her children sold Woodside to Horatio. The Carleton Family were associated with the Cork Bank of Lawton, Carleton and Ferray, which collapsed on 19 December 1760.
Page 53 of the Cork Historical and Archaeology Society Journal 1896 shows Horatio (Horace) was admitted as a member of the Duhallow Hunt on 29 September 1807. The hunt was established in September 1800 and met and dined at Cecilstown (near Mallow, Co Cork) on the first Monday in every month. The yearly subscription was three guineas.
The archives of the Royal Cork Yacht Club record that Horatio Townsend was proposed for membership on 13 September 1828. He was listed as a member in 1829, residing at Belgrove and owning the yacht 'Pearl' (14 tons).
In his book 'A Scottish Whig in Ireland 1835-1838' Robert Graham of Redgorton describes his visit to Cobh where he stayed for a week in July 1835 with Horatio, who was then living at Belgrove on the north east corner of the Island. "One of my reasons for landing in Cove was the more easily to carry into effect a visit I had to pay on Mr and Mrs Townsend at Belgrove....Belgrove is a pretty place and so situated that their share of the river scenery is never affected by the rise and fall of the tide. We found Mr and Mrs T very agreeable and paid a long visit. Mr Townsend's house is a very comfortable one and is retired very beautifully....It was the mansion in the grounds of Mr Bagwell's estate but they have chosen to live in the cottage residence and let off the house." On the last day of his visit Horatio took Robert Graham to church following which they called on Dr Richard Townsend [517] "who is a very clever and scientific man and in great practice at Cove."
The list of subscribers to Lewis' Topographical Directory 1837 shows "Townsend, Rev. Horatio, Belgrove, Great Island, co. Cork". There is some muddle here for the Reverend Horatio Townsend [5D02] was Rector of Carrigaline on the other side of Cork harbour! The entry for Belgrove in the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway Connacht and Munster Landed Estates Database records "A house possibly inherited by the Bagwells through marriage with the Harpers. The residence of J. Travers in 1814 and of the Reverend G. Gumbleton in 1837 and in the early 1850s. The Reverend Gumbleton held the property from John Bagwell and it was valued at £36. Bence Jones writes that William Gumbleton, son of the Reverend, lived in this house under 1911. The house was demolished in the mid 20th century and a new building erected."
The records of the South Cork Light Infantry Militia show a ‘Horace Townsend’ commissioned as Ensign in 1807- this could well be Horatio who would have been 24 at the time. The Militia Act of 1793 sets forth that-"Every person who has been or shall hereafter be appointed an Officer of the Militia of any of the ranks following, shall be in possession of an estate for his own life or the life of another, or for some greater estate in land or heritage's in the United Kingdom of the yearly value hereinafter mentioned in connection with such respective rank, or be heir apparent of some person who shall be in possession of a life estate in property of the like yearly value. For an Ensign the sum was £20 a year, or heir to £200 personal property a year.”
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.
Lewis' Topographical Dictionary 1837' records Horace living at Firmount in the parish of Donoughmore in the barony of East Muskerry.
In a letter (5) dated 20 June 1864 to her husband, John Townsend [622], Marianne Oliver Townsend [5D16] wrote "So Mr Townsend of Woodside is dead poor man! I fear that there is little comfort for his nearest relations, unless he had lately experienced some change of heart. But his utter aversion to all things connected to religion was most sad and terrible. I trust there may have been a change lately for the better, tho' I think it was said that his wife's death seemed to have made no difference in this". The death of Horatio was reported in The Cork Examiner on 18 June 1864.
Page 352 of The Calendar of Wills and Administration 1858-1922 in the National Archives of Ireland records that the will of "Horatio Townsend late of Woodside", who died on 16 June 1864, was proved at the Principal Registry on 31 August 1864, by "the oath of Horatio Hamilton Townsend of Woodside". This entry shows his effects as being under £2,000 but a later manuscript entry dated 9 July 1873 records that they were re-sworn as being under £13,000.
First marriage is not shown in 'An Officer of the Long Parliament'. 'Pooles of Mayfield' p 73 shows the 1st marriage as March 1809 and Horatio's death as 1865.
Thomasine and Dulcibella were by Horatio's first wife.
(1) The entry for Firmount in the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway Connacht and Munster Landed Estates Database records "A Townsend family home, occupied by Horace Townsend in 1837 and by William Coghlan at the time of Griffith's Valuation. It was then valued at £14.10 shillings and was held from Horatio Townsend. The sale rental of 1877 records a fee farm grant of Firmount from John Crewe Chetwood Townsend* to Arthur Chute dated 1871 and a fee farm grant from Arthur Chute to J.C.C. Townsend executed the following year." *John Crewe Chetwood Townsend [6B04].
(1a) The entry for Woodside in the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway Connacht and Munster Landed Estates Database records "Occupied by John Carleton in 1814 and by the Reverend E.M. Carleton in 1837. By the early 1850s the house was occupied by Horace Townsend and held by him in fee. It was valued at £40.”
(2) The entry for Morris (Dunkettle) in the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway Connacht and Munster Landed Estates Database records "A Welsh family descended from Captain William Morris who was granted lands in East and West Carbery, county Cork under the Acts of Settlement. Abraham Morris of Cork, merchant, bought lands in the baronies of Barrymore, Duhallow and Muskerry from the trustees of forfeited estates, 1703. Originally settled at Castle Salem, by the late 18th century Abraham Morris was established at Dunkettle near Cork city. In the 1790s he was elected Member of Parliament for county Cork in a controversial election. In 1851 his grandson Jonas Morris married Ellen only daughter of Silver Charles Oliver of Inchera. At the time of Griffith's Valuation the Morris estate was located in the parishes of Shandrum, barony of Orrery and Kilmore, Clondrohid and Drishane, barony of West Muskerry and Ballydeloher and Caherlag, barony of Barrymore. In the 1870s Richard Morris of Dunkettle owned 6,494 acres in county Cork."
(2a) 'The Post Chaise Companion or Traveller's Directory through Ireland 3rd Edition 1804' pages 487/488 records "Half a mile from Lota, on the opposite side of the creek, is Dunkittle, the seat of Abraham Morris Esq". The entry for Dunkettle in the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway Connacht and Munster Landed Estates Database records "Seat of the Morris family from the late 18th century, occupied by Abraham Morris in 1814 and 1837. At the time of Griffith's Valuation Jonas Morris held the property from George Newenham. The buildings were valued at £60. Bence Jones writes that this house was built on or close to the site of a previous house belonging to the Trant family. The house was sold in the late 19th century to the Gubbins family."
(3) Henrietta died in early 1864 after a painful illness and her death was reported in The Corker Examiner on 10 February 1864. In a letter (4) dated 19 February 1864 Edward Hume Townsend [626] also wrote to John Townsend - "Poor Sam T of Garrycloyne has lost his son Horace, a fine lad of ten and Mrs Horace T [6B01] of Woodside has died after a painful illness".
(4) The entry for Chetwood in the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway Connacht and Munster Landed Estates Database records "The Chetwodes were settled at Woodbrook, Portarlington, Queen's County (county Laois) in the 18th century. Elizabeth Hester Chetwood, granddaugher of Crewe Chetwood, a younger brother of Valentine Knightley Chetwood of Woodbrook, married Robert Rogers Wilmot and had a son Edward Wilmot who took the name Chetwood in 1839. Edward W. Chetwood inherited the Woodbrook estate. In 1830 he married Lady Jean Janet Erskine, daughter of the Earl of Mar and they had 5 children. At the time of Griffith's Valuation Edward W. Chetwood held land in the parishes of Inch St Lawrence and Ludden, barony of Clanwilliam, county Limerick. Jonathon Chetwood owned land in these parishes in the 1810s and 1820s. In the 1870s Edward Wilmot Chetwood's estate in county Limerick amounted to 464 acres. In 1878 Knightley Jonathan Wilmot-Chetwode owned 683 acres in county Cork and 1,389 acres in Queen's County. The Chetwodes continued to live at Woodbrook until 1963. Woodbrook was for sale in 2009."
(5) Llanvapley Papers.