Charles Maurice Waddington Loftus Townshend (5C17)
| Date of Birth: | 31 Jan 1899 |
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| Date of Death: | 13 Jun 1966 |
| Generation: | 8th |
| Residence: | Rhodesia and Slane, Co Meath |
| Father: | Charles Loftus Uniacke Townshend [5C01] |
| Mother: | von Bunsen, Beatrice Margaret |
| Spouse: |
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| Issue: | |
| See Also: | Table VC ; Scrapbook ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree |
Notes for Charles Maurice Waddington Loftus Townshend
Charles was always known by his second name - Maurice.
Agnes Townsend [334] recorded the birth of Charles in her diary - '1899 January 30 Mrs C Loftus Townshend had a son.'
Married 22 March 1928. Elena Frances Blackburne (1) was the second daughter, and eventual heiress, of Judge Francis William Blackburne JP (2) of Tankardstown House (1a), Slane, Co Meath. See Burke's Irish Landed Gentry 1912 - Blackburne of Tankardstown.(3)
Two entries in the London Gazette are of interest. The first shows that Maurice went to Wellington College for the entry in London Gazette 30992 reads "To be 2nd Lieuts From Wellington Cadet College 31st Jan. 1918....Maurice Waddington Loftus Townshend". Just over a year later an entry in the London Gazette 31411 reads "The KING has approved the resignation of the undermentioned officer of the Indian Army:- Lieut. C. M. W. L. Townshend. 23rd May 1919."
Maurice emigrated to Rhodesia like his brothers Frederick William Chisholm Loftus Townsend [5C16] and Edward Arthur Penderell Loftus [5C18] Townsend in the early 1920's but returned to Ireland at the outbreak of World War II, in some peril on account of the German U boats.
By all accounts he was a remarkable man and was credited with second sight. He studied divining and travelled all over Ireland divining and drilling water wells. His very distant cousin, Rose Marie Townshend [269] told the remarkable story about him locating a family friend who had disappeared mysteriously. Maurice arrived in Castletownshend early one morning out of the blue, having driven from his home in Co Meath, and told Rose Marie that he knew she needed him. By using his bobbin over a map he pinpointed where the friend was! However, Maurice would only do this rarely as it took a lot out of him.
In later years he was diagnosed with cancer and only given a short time to live, whereupon, he started concocting his own herbal remedies and lived to the full for many years after. He is buried in St Barrahane's Church, Castletownshend and the inscription on his grave reads “CHARLES MAURICE WADDINGTON LOFTUS TOWNSHEND OF TANKARDSTOWN HOUSE NAVAN BORN JAN. 31ST 1899, DIED JUNE 13TH 1966”
(1) Eleanor was born in 1899 and died on 10 April 1996.
(1a) Tankardstown House is now a hotel.
(2) Francis William Blackburne is listed in U.H.Hussey de Burgh's 'Landowners of Ireland 1878' - "Blackburne, Francis William JP - Tankardstown, Slane; Galtrim House, Bray, Co Wicklow." owning 691 acres valued at £597. ‘Slater’s Royal National Directory of Ireland, 1894’ records under the heading ‘Gernonstown, co Meath. Private Residents’ - “Blackburne Francis William JP. Tankardstown house.”
(3) The entry for Blackburne in the University of Galway Landed Estates Database records " In 1857 The Right Honourable Francis Blackburn of Rathfarnham Castle, county Dublin, purchased 1,180 acres of the Marquis of Thomond's estate in the barony of Inchiquin county Clare. In the 1870s Captain John Blackburne of Brownsbarn, Thomastown, county Kilkenny, owned 1,152 acres in county Clare. He was probably a member of the Blackburne family of Tankardstown, county Meath. The Blackburne families of Rathfarnham and Tankardstown were related."