Anne Weldon Townshend (5C22)

Date of Birth: 14 Oct 1915
Date of Death: 5 Apr 2011
Generation: 8th
Residence: Vence, France
Father: Thomas Loftus Uniacke Townshend [5C02]
Mother: Weldon, Harriet Hockley
Spouse:
  1. Marquis, Leonce de Douzon
Issue: None
See Also: Table VC ; Scrapbook ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree

Notes for Anne Weldon Townshend

Anne was born in Dublin and educated at Alexandria College, Dublin at the same time as her distant cousin Rose-Marie Townshend [269]. Following this she was awarded a scholarship at an art college in St John's Wood, London. (1)

She married Leonce, Marquis de Douzon, in 1955 and moved to the family chateau near Limoges which they later sold and bought a villa in Vence, named Les Romarins (3).

Like her mother and sister Theodosia, Anne was an accomplished artist, producing beautiful pastels and sensitive water colours. In her youth she was a fine equestrian and Catherine Maud Townshend (2), although only five years her junior, remembered fondly galloping with Anne over the sands along the beach at Blackrock, just south of Dublin.

During World War II Anne served in the British Army as a Map Plotter, earning a distinguished record as a specialist in reading aerial photographs. After the war, she cared for her father until he died in December 1953.

Diagnosed with tuberculosis, Leonce spent his last years in a sanatorium at Thorenc near the Swiss border on the edge of the Alps. Anne lived with him there during the final two years of his life until he died in 1965.

Anne remained at Les Romarins after the death of Leonce and travelled back to Ireland at least once a year, and on occasion to America to visit her American relations. A Tribute to Anne, written by her nephew Loftus Townshend Jestin, is contained in her 'Scrapbook'.

(1) This cannot be traced. Anne's sister, Theodosia Madeleine Townshend [5C21], studied art at The Slade.

(2) The daughter of Theodosia - Anne's niece.

(3) Vence is 20km north west of Nice.