Thomas Courtenay Townshend (5B02)

Date of Birth: 4 Feb 1845
Date of Death: post 1911
Generation: 7th
Residence: Foxrock, Dublin
Father: Horatio Uniacke Townshend [5B00]
Mother: Clarke, Louisa
Spouse:
  1. Brown, Adelaide Helen
Issue:
  1. Doctor Horace Montagu Dimock [5B21]
  2. Mabel Louise Adeline [5B22]
  3. Eva Mary [5B23]
See Also: Table VB ; Scrapbook ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree

Notes for Thomas Courtenay Townshend

Thomas was born in Co Tipperary shortly before his parents moved to Co Laois.

Married 4 February 1875. Adelaide Helen Brown (1) was the daughter of Edward Brown of Chobham, Surrey.

Thomas studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and the TCD Graduation List Volume II records that he qualified BA in Winter 1866. Henry FitzJohn Townsend [260] and Richard Hungerford Townsend [5A02] were undergraduates at Trinity at the same time, whilst Rev Richard Townsend [337] was teaching at the university.

Like his brother William Charles Townshend [5B05], his uncle Charles Uniacke Townshend [5C00] his cousin Charles Loftus Townshend [5C01], Thomas was a Dublin land agent with offices at 23 South Frederick Street. The baptismal certificates of his three children show that between March 1876 and January 1880 he was living at 66 Upper Leeson Street, Dublin. Later he lived at 'Whitehall' in Foxrock, which was and still is, known for its affluence with a considerable number of its citizens engaged in business and the professions. Leopardstown racecourse is located at Foxrock and in horse racing it ranks in importance as second only to The Curragh in County Kildare. The village is unusual in the Republic of Ireland as it lacks a pub!!

Thomas was a member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland as were his distant cousins Charlotte Payne-Townshend [5D27] William Chambers Townsend [6B11] and George Townsend [6B36].

The report of proceedings, lists of committees, delegates, etc in June 1892 of the Munster & Connaught Unionist Convention for Provinces of Leinster shows ‘TC Townsend’ as a representative of the County of Dublin. Several of his kinsmen were also listed as members – Richard Harvey Townsend [534], Charles Eyre Townsend [5B14], Charles Uniacke Townshend [5C00], Charles Loftus Townsend [5C01], Horace Webb Townsend [634] and Horatio Hamilton Townsend [6B05].

‘Slater’s Royal National Directory of Ireland, 1894’ records under the heading ‘Dublin Commercial Directory’ - “Townshend Thomas C. land agent, 23 South Frederick St; res. Whitehall, Foxrock” and under the heading ‘Dublin Street Registry. Frederick St South - “23. Townshend Thomas Courtney, land agent.” It also records under the heading ‘Nobility, Gentry, Clergy & Private Residents, Dublin’ - “Townshend Thomas Courtney, Whitehall, Foxrock.”

The April 1901 Irish Census and the April 1911 Irish Census both record that Thomas was a Land Agent, educated at Trinity College, Dublin, living in Foxrock, Stillorgan, Dublin, with his wife, two adult daughters and two domestic staff. The house consisted of 16 rooms, 3 stables, a coach house and a further five outbuildings. In the 1901 Census Thomas' brother, James Townshend [5B06], is shown as a visitor.

With his cousin Charles Eyre Townshend [5B14], Thomas was an executor of the will of his uncle William Uniacke Townshend [5B01]. Page 699 of the Calendar of Wills and Administration 1858-1922 in the National Archives of Ireland records that the will of "William Uniacke late of 15 Earlsfort Terrace Dublin Land Agent", who died on 7 April 1888, was proved at the Principal Registry on 23 April 1887 by "Charles Eyre Coote Townsend of Mount Coote Killmallock County Limerick Land Agent and Thomas Courtenay Townsend of 5 College Green Dublin Land Agent Executors". Effects £17,819 8s 1d.

(1) Adelaide was born in in England in 1856.