Charles Eyre Coote Townsend (5B14)

Date of Birth: 14 Sep 1858
Date of Death: 18 Jun 1947
Generation: 7th
Residence: Mount Coote, Co Limerick, Biggin Hill, Kent, Brighton, Sussex
Father: William Uniacke Townsend [5B01]
Mother: Coote, Mary Anne Harriet
Spouse:
  1. Billing, Ida
  2. Lamprey, Violet Alice
Issue:
    • Herbert Eyre Dalrymple [5B30]
    • Percy Dalrymple [5B31]
    • Ivan Vesey [5B32]
    • Lieut Claud R [5B33]
See Also: Table VB ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree

Notes for Charles Eyre Coote Townsend

Married 1st 14 June 1887 at Emmanuel Church, Barton Regis, Bristol. Ida Billing (d. 3 May 1902) (1) was the daughter of Theodore Billing of Dublin. Married 2nd 15 April 1903 at St Peter’s, Wickham Road, Brockley, London. Violet Alice Lamprey (d. 16 April 1963) was the third daughter of JH Lamprey.

Like his father, Charles was a land agent. On page 153 of The Divining Rod: An Experimental and Psychological Investigation 1926 the water diviner Leicester Gataker worked on the estate of Colonel Brownloe, CB, of Carrickmacross in May 1898 and according to records his sole agent was "C Eyre Townsend, JP FSI of Mount Coote, (2) Killmallock".

In addition to following in his father's footsteps at Mount Coote, Charles was likewise sometime agent for Lady Ashtown (3) of the Castle Oliver Estate.(4) Amongst the estate records in Limerick City Museum (LM1999.0001-0005 ) relating to the this estate there are "account books for years ending 30 April 1886 & 1889, William Uniacke Townsend and Charles Eyre Townsend for Lady Ashtown.”

The report of proceedings, lists of committees, delegates, etc in June 1892 of the Munster & Connaught Unionist Convention for Provinces of Leinster shows ‘C. E. Townsend Esq, JP. Mount Coote, Kilmallock’ as a member of the General Committee and a representative for the County and City of Limerick. Several of his kinsmen were also listed as members – Richard Harvey Townsend [534], Thomas Courtenay Townsend [5B02], 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 Directory’ - “Townsend Eyre Coote JP. Mount Coote.”

Charles was an executor of the will of his father along with his cousin Thomas Courtenay Townshend [5B02]. 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.

Charles and his family are not shown in the 1901 Irish Census thus some time between 1894 and then they moved to Lausanne, Switzerland (5), where Ida died giving birth to Claud in 1902. It is not know when Charles returned to the UK but, as noted above, he married his second wife in London in 1903. At some stage he lived in Biggin Hill, Kent and is shown in the 1911 census as living at 9 Vine Place Brighton Sussex.

Page 697 of The Calendar of Wills and Administration 1858-1922 in the National Archives of Ireland records that Administration of the estate of "Ian Vesy Townsend late of 9 Vine Place Brighton Sussex Lieutenant 2nd East Lancs" who died on 4 February 1915, in France was granted at Dublin on 29 July 1915 to " Charles E Coote Townsend". Effects £283 13s 6d. Ian was only 21 at the time he was killed and most probably was still living with his parents.

Much of the information in these notes was provided by Michael Langdon, son of Charles’s granddaughter Joan Pamela Townshend [5B48].

(1) Ida Billing's great grandfather was Thomas Dalrymple, an attorney in Dublin, who died in 1779. Her grandmother, Jane Dalrymple, married on 11 October 1782, William Ball,a barrister of Clare Street,Dublin,who indexed the Irish Statutes.

(2) The entry for Mount Coote the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway Connacht and Munster Landed Estates Database records "The county Limerick seat of the Coote family in the 19th century, occupied by Chidley Coote in 1814. Lewis refers to it as the former seat of Chidley Coote in 1837. Charles Coote was resident at the time of Griffith's Valuation and held the property in fee. The buildings were valued at £53. Their value had increased to £65 by 1906. The Irish Tourist Association surveyor wrote in 1943 that the house was bought by Sir Gilbert Greenall, who became 1st Lord Daresbury, who spent about £200,000 setting up a Model Farm. [Lord Daresbury also owned Clonshire]. Following his death three years previously it was sold and then run as a stud farm. Bence Jones writes that this house was demolished circa 1960 and a new house built in the Georgian style."

(3) Charles’s uncle, Richard Townsend [513], married Helena Trench in 1826 who was a cousin of Frederick Mason Trench 2nd Baron Ashtown who married as his second wife Elizabeth Oliver-Gascoigne of Castle Oliver (Lady Ashtown) – family networking?

(4) The entry for Castle Oliver in the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway Connacht and Munster Landed Estates Database records "The original Castle Oliver or Clonodfoy was the home of the Oliver family in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It was replaced by the present building in the mid 19th century. In 1837 Lewis described the castle as being in a very dilapidated state. It belonged to R. O. Gascoigne of the county of York whose bailiff resided in it. In 1814 Castle Oliver was occupied by George Fosbery who may have been employed by the Oliver Gascoignes. The new building was designed by George Fowler Jones and built in the Scottish baronial style for the Oliver Gascoignes. At the time of Griffith's Valuation the castle was valued at £75 and the house at £48 and both were in the possession of Elizabeth O. Gascoigne and her brother in law Frederick Charles Trench. The house was eventually inherited by Elizabeth's step grandson the Honourable William Cosby Trench. He was the occupier in 1906 when it was valued at £125. Restored in the early 21st century it now provides self catering accommodation and is a venue for functions such as weddings."

(5) In a letter of 1975 to his niece, Joan Pamela Townshend [5B48], Charles’s son Percy Dalrymple Townshend [5B31] described living at Mount Coote but said that they had "to quit our homes from the Sinn Fein and went to Switzerland".