Edward Townsend (445)
| Date of Birth: | 1816 |
|---|---|
| Date of Death: | 26 Oct 1898 |
| Generation: | 6th |
| Residence: | Melbourne, Australia |
| Father: | Captain Samuel Irwin Townsend [409] |
| Mother: | Whitfield, Elizabeth |
| Spouse: |
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| Issue: | |
| See Also: | Table IV ; Scrapbook ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree |
Notes for Edward Townsend.
Edward is not shown in An Officer of the Long Parliament, Burke's Irish Family Records or the pedigree drawn up by John FitzHenry Townshend [250]. He is however shown on the website Townsend Surname in Australia - father Samuel Irwin Townsend; mother Elizabeth Whitfield and his marriage certificate (1), which has recently (2009) come to light, confirms the details. He must have been wrong about his age at the time of his marriage (39) - hence born in 1816; his parents did not marry before September 1817 when his father's first wife died. Unless.....
Edward emigrated to South Brighton, Melbourne, Australia sometime prior to 1853. He married on 6 March 1855 in the Wesleyan Chapel, Collins St, Melbourne. Emily Uther Elliott (2) was the daughter of Sizar and Sarah Elliot (nee Nestrop?) (3) and was only 18 when she married - less than half Edward's age.
The marriage certificate (No 853) shows Edward as aged 39 and being born in Skibbereen, Co Cork, Ireland. His father is shown as Samuel Irwin Townsend a “Captain in the Grenadier Guards”.
Nothing is known about Edward or what he did for a living; both his marriage and death certificate (1) record that he was a 'Gentleman' whilst the death certificate (1) for his son Arthur Horace Townsend [451] records that he was an 'Investor'. The places where his children were born show that he was constantly moving around the Melbourne area. In 1856 he was living in Merri Creek which is now a suburb of Melbourne - much quarrying was done there in the 19th century and Edward might well have been involved. In 1859 he was in Mordialloc which did not have a postal office until October 1863, so clearly was fairly backward - it is now a suburb some 24km from the centre of Melbourne. Between 1860 and his death Edward lived intermittently in Brighton, Cheltenham, both suburbs of Melbourne, as well as in the city itself.
Edward died in South Brighton and was buried alongside Emily in the Cemetery at Cheltenham on 27 October 1898. The death certificate records that he was a member of the Church of England but his marriage certificate records that he was a member of the Weslyan Church!
(1) A copy of the certificate is held by Arthur Mumford of Victoria, Australia, a descendant of Edward's son Arthur Horace Townsend.
(2) Emily was born in 1837 and died in May 1897. She was buried on 31 May 1897 in the Cheltenham Cemetery, Victoria, Grave no 4DCEO.
(3) Sizar Elliot was an ironmonger from Melbourne.
Other ‘Townsend’ Australian émigrés - Denotes with descendants.
Jonas Morris Townsend [237], Thomas Townsend [339], Edward James Townsend [340], James Townsend [342], Reuben Joseph Townsend [373], Edward Townsend [374], Edward Becher Townsend [433], Samuel Edward Townsend [441], Edward Carr Townsend [5A01], Andrew Colin Crofton Townsend [5B38], David Michael Hume Townsend [667], Penelope Townsend [671], Samuel Philip Townsend [6A20], Sarah Townsend [6B56], Constance Rosemary Townsend [6C32]*.