Edward Carr Townsend (5A01)

Date of Birth: 5 Feb 1844
Date of Death: 12 May 1926
Generation: 7th
Residence: Newtown, Sydney, Australia
Father: Reverend Thomas Uniacke Townsend [5A00]
Mother: Carr, Elizabeth
Spouse:
  1. Cool, Annie
Issue:
  1. Thomas William [5A30]
  2. George Cool [5A31]
  3. Edward [5A32]
  4. Emma [5A33]
  5. Edith May [5A34]
  6. Alice Mary [5A35]
  7. Annie Elizabeth [5A36]
  8. Richard [5A37]
See Also: Table VA ; Scrapbook ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree

Notes for Edward Carr Townsend. See also

Edward was born in Kilkenny and educated at Kilkenny College. He emigrated to Australia as an 'un-assisted migrant' (1) on the 'Norfolk' departing Gravesend on 21 October 1867 and arriving in Melbourne, Victoria on 19 January 1868. It remains a mystery why, as the eldest son, he should have emigrated.

Married 16 November 1870 at Avenel Police Camp, Victoria. Annie Cool (2) was the daughter of William Cool, a carpenter from Salisbury, Wilts.

Oral tradition in this branch of the family maintains that Edward joined the Mounted Police (3) in Victoria and, for the next fourteen years or so, was engaged in escorting bullion from the newly discovered goldfields to Melbourne. He was also involved in hunting down bushrangers (4) who frequently tried to rob the bullion convoys. However, records held by the Victoria Police Historical Unit in Melbourne show that he was appointed constable (Number 2317) on 26 January 1869 and was dismissed from the service after only seven years service on 17 June 1876. A transcription of Edward's police Attestation Paper is reproduced in his 'Scrapbook' and it shows that at the time of his enlistment he was in the employ of D. Fern Esq who was living in Ballarat. It also shows that he was a 'Clerk' at the time of his enlistment. Edward's great grandson (5) contacted the Victoria Police Service in 2004 and discovered that Edward was dismissed because he was “Absent from Station” in that he falsely claimed to be on duty in Costerfield between the hours of 8 and 10pm, when he was reported to have met another constable in a neighbouring town between those hours.

The various places (6) were the eldest six of his children were born during the period 1872 to 1881 indicate that he was living in the Bendigo - Seymour - Benalla area about 100 miles north of Melbourne.

Following his service with the mounted police Edward moved to Newtown, Sydney; this must have been sometime between June 1881 when his daughter, Alice, was born in Melbourne and January 1884 when his son, Edward, was born in Newtown. Initially Edward established a horse-drawn bus service and this proved so successful that he expanded the business into general transport and bought a grocery store.

Many of Edward's fellow ex-patriots in Newtown struggled to make ends meet as they were not successful in establishing a thriving business and he was generous to these poor Irish families, lending them money or extending credit when needs be.

Edward and Annie had two further children who died in infancy. Helen (b.& d. 1887) and Lucy (b. 1892 d. 1893).

Both Edward and Annie died in their home at 106 Darley Street, Newtown.

These details were provided by Edward Carr's great grand-daughter Betty Frances Quinn (d. 27 September 2011) through his daughter Edith Townsend [5A34], with additional information provided by his great grandson Peter Bartlett (see Note 5).

Thomas Henry Townsend [5A10] recalled Edward visiting Ireland with his son, Edward Townsend [5A32], to seek a cure for the latter's deafness.

(1) The cost of a passage was £18 - £20.

(2) Annie was born on 23 March 1849 and died on 28 June 1922. She emigrated to Australia in 1868 on the 'Southern Cross' and in the passenger roll was listed as "Aged 19. C of E. Housemaid to (illegible) of Richmond, Victoria for one year at £25 per year".

(3) Many of the men bought their own horses and Edward had a favourite called 'Creamy'.

(4) The bushrangers originated in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). Provided with guns to hunt kangaroos they were convicts who escaped to form criminal gangs taking their chances in the bush. After the discovery of gold in the 1850s in Victoria and New South Wales, bushrangers increased their activities and began ambushing gold shipments. The bushrangers of this period were often native Australians rather than convicts. The most famous of the bushrangers was Ned Kelly who was born in Avenel.

(5) Peter Bartlett, grandson of Annie Elizabeth Townsend [5A36]. There is an oral tradition in this line of the family that Edward, whilst in pursuit of Ned Kelly on horseback stopped off to have a “cuppa tea” with Ned’s sister Kate, trying to find out which way Ned went!

(6) Melbourne: 1872, 1879 and 1881. Whroo: 1873. Costerfield: 1875. Victoria; 1877.

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 Townsend [445], Andrew Colin Crofton Townsend [5B38], David Michael Hume Townsend [667], Penelope Townsend [671], Samuel Philip Townsend [6A20], Sarah Townsend [6B56], Constance Rosemary Townsend [6C32]*.