Edward Arthur Penderell Loftus Townshend (5C18)
| Date of Birth: | 20 Jun 1901 |
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| Date of Death: | 15 Jun 1984 |
| Generation: | 8th |
| Residence: | Kilmeany House (1), Carlow |
| Father: | Charles Loftus Uniacke Townshend [5C01] |
| Mother: | von Bunsen, Beatrice Margaret |
| Spouse: |
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| See Also: | Table VC ; Scrapbook ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree |
Notes for Edward Arthur Penderell Loftus Townshend
Married 24 January 1933 at All Souls, Langham Place, London. Florence Doreen Prior-Wandesforde was the younger daughter of Richard Henry Prior-Wandesforde (1870 – 1956) (2) DL JP of Castlecomer House, Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny and Kirklington Hall, Yorkshire. See Burke's Irish Landed Gentry 1912 and 1976 Edn Burke's Irish Family Records - Prior-Wandesforde.
Edward was educated at Repton and emigrated to Rhodesia in 1921 where he studied as a farm pupil on a farm being developed from the bush at Rutherdale, near Shamva north of Salisbury. He later bought the farm in a form of partnership with his brother Frederick Townshend [5C16], though the latter was more interested in developing golf courses. Edward returned from Rhodesia in 1938 on account of his wife's poor health. On arriving home in Ireland he planned to start farming and started by helping his father-in-law, Richard Prior-Wandesforde, to establish a grass-drying plant on his farm in Castlecomer.
On the outbreak of World War II in 1939 Edward joined the RAF (3) and moved to England with his family. They returned to Ireland after the war to farm at Kilmeany House, Carlow.
Both Edward and Frederick were aware of the farm at Lowdale established by Thomas Crofton Croker Townsend [5B15], who emigrated to Rhodesia in 1903, but there was little contact between the two families.
Edward and his wife are buried in Staplestown Church, Carlow, and the inscription on their headstone reads "In Loving Memory of EDWARD L TOWNSHEND KILMEANY HOUSE. DIED JUNE 15TH 1984 AGED 82. ALSO HIS WIFE FLORENCE DOREEN nee PRIOR-WANDESFORDE. DIED OCT 15TH 1999 AGED 94.
Further details about Edward can be seen at Irish Life and Lore in which his son Desmond recounts various aspect of his father's life.
(1) Ordnance survey of Ireland. Discovery Series. 1:50,000. Map sheet 64, grid reference R052322.
(2) ‘Slater’s Royal National Directory of Ireland, 1894’ "Castlecomer, co Kilkenny. The town has a large square in the centre, and contiguous is Castlecomer House, the residence of Richard Henry Prior Wandesforde esq, JP, DL the first mansion was erected by the Dowager Countess of Ormonde, and together with a great part of the town was burned during the rebellion of 1798 the fine woods of this estate impart great beauty to the surrounding scenery."
(2a) The entry for Prior Wandesforde in the University of Galway Landed Estates Database records "The main Irish estate of the Wandesforde family, later Prior-Wandesforde, was in the Castlecomer area of county Kilkenny. They also had estates in England. The Wandesforde family acquired land in counties Limerick and Clare following the marriage in 1750 of Agnes Elizabeth, daughter of John Southwell of Enniscouch, county Limerick, and John Wandesford 5th Viscount Castlecomer and 1st Earl Wandesforde. This estate was previously Southwell property and was in the barony of Lower Connello, county Limerick and Clonderalaw, county Clare. In 1769 Frances, the only child of the 1st Earl Wandesforde, married John Butler, 7th Earl of Ormonde and their fourth son succeeded to the Wandesforde estates. The Prior Wandesforde Estate Papers in the National Library of Ireland show that the county Clare estates were mainly in the Kilrush and Killadysert localities and included Ballyartney. At the time of Griffith's Valuation the county Clare estate of the Wandesfordes was in the parishes of Kilmurry and Kilmilhil and their county Limerick estate was in the parishes of Nantinan and Rathkeale, barony of Connello Lower, (H. Wandesforde) Cloncagh, barony of Connello Lower and Darragh, barony of Coshlea (C.C.B. Wandesforde). In the 1870s the Honourable C.B. Wandesforde of Mount Juliet, county Kilkenny, owned 6,737 acres in county Clare and Henry T.B. Wandesforde of Palmerstown, county Dublin, owned 4,137 acres in county Limerick."
(3) Edward was commissioned as a Pilot Officer on probation in the Administrative and Special Duties Branch of the RAF in July 1941 - London Gazette 35208. He was promoted to Flying Officer in 1942 and Flight Lieutenant in January 1945 (In the RAF Regiment according to the Gazette) - London Gazette 36893.