Doctor Richard Newman Townsend (530)
| Date of Birth: | 1835 |
|---|---|
| Date of Death: | 2 Mar 1877 |
| Generation: | 7th |
| Residence: | Mallow and Cobh, Co Cork |
| Father: | Doctor Richard Uniacke Townsend [517] |
| Mother: | Newman, Mary |
| Spouse: |
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| Issue: | |
| See Also: | Table V ; Scrapbook ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree |
Notes for Doctor Richard Newman Townsend MD
Married at St Stephen's Church, Dublin, on 28 January 1863 (1). Katherine Hare Maunsell (2) was the younger daughter of Commander William Hare Maunsell RN of Lower Mount Street, Dublin (3). See 1976 Edn Burke's Irish Family Records - Maunsell.(3a) Katherine's brother, William Hare Maunsell, married Alice Maud Townsend [6A19] in 1884 and her sister, Frances Maria Maunsell, married Richard Horatio Townsend [6A10] in 1868. At the time of his marriage Richard was living at Glountane, Mallow.
Richard was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford (BA 1857. MD) and he rowed in the Oxford/Cambridge boat race in 1856.
The newspaper article announcing the birth of his daughter Marion Townsend [547] in The Cork Examinerof 27 October 1863 shows that Richard was still living in Mallow in late 1863. How long he remained there is unclear but it is known that in 1875 he was Dispensary Medical Officer of Health, Cobh (Queenstown) District, physician to Cobh Hospital and Surgeon-Major Royal Cork City Artillery Militia (5).
Richard died of typhus and obituaries were published in the British Medical Journal (17 March 1877 p. 334) and the Medical Times & Gazette (31 March 1877 p. 353). A Guard of Honour from the Royal Cork City Artillery Militia preceded his hearse. His death was also recorded in the diary of Agnes Townsend [334] - 'March 3 1877 Dr RN Townsend died at Queenstown'.
Page 726 of The Calendar of Wills and Administration 1858-1922 in the National Archives of Ireland records that Letters of Administration of the personal estate of "Richard Newman Townsend late of Queenstown", who died on 2 March 1877, were granted at Cork on 28 April 1877 to "Robert Uniacke FitzGerald Townsend of Queenstown Curator of the minor Children of said deceased". Effects under £3,000.
The 'Register of Landowners in County Cork 1876' under the entry for Queenstown records "Townsend, Richard Newman 165 acres. £89 0s." (2005 equivalent - £6,434). Strangely though Richard is not shown in the Directory of Cork City Residents 1875.
‘Slater’s Royal National Directory of Ireland, 1894’ records under the heading ‘Munster Parishes - Innishannon. Private Residents’ – “Townsend Mrs. Kate, Westropp house.” The April 1901 Irish Census confirms this and records that she was aged 56 and lived at house 1 in the village of Innishannon with her son Richard. Her income derived from investments and the house consisted of twelve rooms with a stable.
Seven members of the family practiced medicine in Cork and Queenstown during the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries. Richard Townsend [517] 1800-1843; Edward Richard Townsend [6C00] 1800-1878; Richard Newman Townsend [530] 1835-1877; Edward Richard Townsend [6C04] 1838-1897; Richard Hungerford Townsend [5A02] 1845-1922; Normnan Ian Townsend [6C18] 1869-1921 and Thomas Henry Denny Townsend [5A10] 1876-1952. In addition 'Townsends' from another family practiced at roughly the same time; notably Dr William C Townsend and Dr Horace R Townsend.
(1) 'Burke's Irish Family Records' show the marriage as 1868.
(2) Katherine was born in 1845 in Co Dublin. Her brother, Lieutenant William Hare Maunsell RN, married Alice Maud Townsend [6A19] and her sister, Frances Maria Hare Maunsell, married Alice's brother, Richard Horatio Townsend [6A10].
(3) William Hare Maunsell is buried in the St Mary and John Churchyard, Parish of Cowley St John, Oxford.
(3a) The entry for Maunsell (Limerick) in the University of Galway Landed Estates Database records "The Maunsell family were originally from Buckinghamshire. They settled at Mocollop, county Waterford, in the early 16th century and received lands in counties Galway and Limerick in the 17th century. Richard Maunsell settled in Limerick in the 18th century and represented the city in Parliament from 1741 to 1761. From his second son descend the Maunsells of Ballywilliam. His eldest son Thomas married Dorothea Waller of Castle Waller and had four sons, Richard died in America, Thomas of Plassey, Robert of Bank Place, Limerick and the Reverend George Dean of Leighlin who married Helena Hedges Eyre of Macroom Castle and Mount Hedges, county Cork. Robert Maunsell had a distinguished career in India and was a founder of Maunsells' Bank with his brother Thomas and Sir Matthew Blakiston on his return to Ireland in 1789. The descendants of Robert's fourth (Henry of Fantstown, Kilmallock) and sixth (General Frederick of Gortbwee, Clonan and Glenwood) sons were living in county Limerick in the late 19th century. At the time of Griffith's Valuation Major Robert Maunsell, [eldest son of Henry Maunsell of Fantstown] held land in the parishes of Fedamore, barony of Smallquin and in the parishes of Monagay, Newcastle and Killeedy, barony of Glenquin."
(4) There is a strong 'Mallow' connection here. Richard's mother came from Mallow and his father was buried there in Killeens Cemetery in 1843 when he was just eight. His grandfather, Thomas Townsend [509] lived there before moving to Dublin as Examiner to his brother, John Sealy Townsend [507] and his uncle Thomas Uniacke Townsend [5A00] was ordained Deacon at Dromore, Mallow in 1837.
(5) Major John Tuckey of Kilronan, Co Cork, husband of Mary Townsend [6B14], served in the Militia at the same time.