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Captain Richard Arthur Herbert Townshend (259)

Notes for Captain Richard Arthur Herbert Townshend

Married 24 April 1884 at St Luke's Church Cork (2). Martha Aylmer (3) was the 6th daughter of Sir Arthur Aylmer Bt JP, who was himself the 2nd son of Sir Fenton Aylmer (4) Bt of Donadee Castle, Co Kildare. See Burke's Peerage - Aylmer.

Richard entered RMC Sandhurst in February 1871. As the Trustee of his Mother’s Marriage Settlement, Richard Mellifont-Townshend [236] agreed to settle £100 on Richard from the trust fund at his mother’s request to defray the costs of his “maintenance and education at Sandhurst Royal Military College”. A year later a further £250 was conferred on Richard to cover the cost of ‘uniforms and his advancement’. Richard was commissioned into the 13th of Foot (1st Somersetshire - Prince Albert's Light Infantry) on 7 June 1872 (5). Promoted Lieutenant the following year and Captain on 9 April 1881 (6), he served in Zululand in 1882 and resigned his commission on 22 May 1883 (7). His father died in 1882 and this no doubt forced him to leave the service.

On the death of his uncle, Richard Mellifont-Townshend, in September 1884 Richard inherited £5000 in trust for his children in addition to the Mellifont Estate in the Barony of West Muskerry, Co Cork. He also inherited one moiety of the Dunbeacon estate, the other half going to his cousin, Richard Townsend [254]. All the silver was to be split equally between Richard Arthur and Thomas Somerville, son of Henrietta Townshend [242], though this subsequently caused argument and strife.

Whilst it would appear that Richard was well off following the death of his Uncle it would seem that this was not so. The section ‘Miscellaneous Property Deeds’ in the Durrus History website records “Richard Arthur Townsend, Shorecliffe, Glandore late Captain his Majesties Somerset Regiment of Light Infantry mortgage to Robert Constable Hall, Rockcliff, Blackrock, Cork J.P. and Fitzjohn Hussey de Burgh Jnr Kilfinin Castle, advance of £497 on lands at Dunbeacon. (Registry of Deeds 1885/49/299)”. A year later he wrote to John FitzHenry Townshend [250] on 8 March 1886 (8) –

“My Dear Cousin

Many thanks for what you did for me with the Inland Revenue. I am very glad they attacked you instead of poor me. I see you foresaw the coming state of the country when you refused me £2,500 to purchase out R Townshend (9); at the time I was very hurt, now very grateful. Land is no value!…..I am now terribly hard up. I am going to sell my hunter and dismiss the groom etc. It seems to me I am worse off than before my uncle died.”

If he did sell his hunter he bought another. The Southern Star in its edition of Saturday 4 January 1896 carries a report about 'The popular Durrus Sports' which were held on Thursday 2 January. Despite poor weather there were two horse races over a six mile course and Richard entered his bay mare in both. In the first he won by over half a mile and won a saddle. In the second race he came second and won a double bridle.

Sadly nothing is known about Richard from this time until his sudden death 44 years later.

In 'An Officer of the Long Parliament' genealogical Table I, Richard is shown as being of "Shorecliffe, (9a) Glandore, Co Cork". He must have inherited this property from his father in 1882 - ten years before the book was published and a year before he resigned his commission. Family correspondence from the years 1884 – 1886 shows Richard living at 2 Clarence Place, Cork as well as Shorecliffe

Page 173 of Guy’s City and County Cork Almanac and Directory 1891 records that Richard was living at Friendly Cove House,(10) Durrus, Bantry and this is reflected in ‘Slater’s Royal National Directory of Ireland, 1894’ which shows under the heading ‘Munster Parishes - Durrus. Private Residents’ – “Townsend Captain R. A. H. Friendly Cove house.” It is not known when he bought this house but a letter dated 28 September 1887 to the Legacy and Succession Duty Office in Dublin shows that he was living there then. It is known that his cousin, Richard Townsend [254], was living there when he died in 1912, having sold Dunbeacon Cottage in 1910. Richard shows in his codicil "I leave the large family bible and the Family Pictures to Captain RAH Townshend of Beach, Bantry".

The April 1901 Irish Census shows Richard and his wife staying with his sister in law, Anna Aylmer, at house 3 Spy Hill, Queenstown, Cork. The 1911 Irish Census records Richard living at Beach House, Bantry, which he moved into sometime after 1894. He is shown as a 59 year old retired army Captain living there with his wife and four domestic staff. The house belonged to Edward E Leigh-White and consisted of 14 rooms, a stable, coach house, harness room and five other outbuildings. Richard was still living there in 1913 according to page 287 of Guy’s County and County Cork Almanac and Directory for that year.

Guy’s City and County Almanac for Cork 1921 shows on page 22 - ‘Conservators of Fisheries’ - “Townshend Captain RAH, Beach House, Bantry” as being responsible for various local rivers including the Glengariff.

When Richard died in 1930, without issue, the £5,000 left to him in trust by Richard Mellifont-Townshend reverted to the residual legatee of RMT’s estate – John FitzHenry Townshend. As JFT died in 1893 the £5,000 would have gone to the beneficiaries of his will, namely his surviving children Henry FitzJohn Townshend [260] and Charlotte Townshend [261]. However both Henry and Charlotte died before Richard and so the £5,000 went to the beneficiaries of their wills. Sylvia Rosalie Townshend [268] was the sole beneficiary of Henry’s will and thus received one moiety. Sylvia’s daughter, as Charlotte’s principal beneficiary received two thirds of the other moiety and the Reverend Waller-Bridge (11), who was Charlotte’s sole executor, received the remaining third of this moiety.

(1) Entry in the diary of Agnes Townsend [334] - 'March 11 1852 Mrs John Henry T had a son.'

(2) Entry in the diary of Agnes Townsend [334] - 'April 1884 Rd Arthur Townshend married to Miss Aylmer'.

(3) Martha was born in 1851 and died on 29 October 1919.

(4) ‘Slater’s Royal National Directory of Ireland, 1894’ records under the heading ‘Kilcock, Leinster’ – “Kilcock is a small town in co. Kildare. The place suffered much in the Rebellion of 1798; then held by Sir Fenton Aylmer, of the Donadea cavalry, part of the town was destroyed, and Courtown, the residence of Colonel Aylmer, was burnt to the ground.”

(5) London Gazette 23865 page 2666 dated 7 June 1872.

(6) London Gazette 25104 page 2076 dated 5 May 1882.

(7) London Gazette 25232 page 2663 dated 22 May 1883.

(8) Lovera Papers 236/26.

(9) Richard Townsend [254].

(9a) The entry for Shorecliffe in the University of Galway Landed Estates Database records "Occupied by the Rev. William Baldwin at the time of Griffith's Valuation, when it was valued at £11. It is named Prospect House on the 1st-edition Ordnance Survey map but as Shorecliffe House on the 25-inch map of the 1890s. It is still known by this name."

(10) The entry for Friendly Cove in the University of Galway Landed Estates Database records "Richard T. Evanson was leasing this property from John B. Gumbleton at the time of Griffith's Valuation, when it was valued at £24. Stores adjoining the property were valued at £6. Leet records this property as the residence of Nathaniel Evanson, jnr. in 1814. The house is still extant and in 2009 was offered for sale."

(11) Rector of Worth, Three Bridges, Sussex, born 14 April 1879 and died 1 January 1952. He married on 30 January 1913 Elsie Noëline Waller Boughton-Lee, of Cuckfield House (b. 25 December 1895 d. 24 January 1953).