Major Philip Achilles Kingston Townshend OBE (6A25)
| Date of Birth: | 7 Dec 1885 |
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| Date of Death: | 24 May 1950 |
| Generation: | 7th |
| Residence: | London |
| Father: | Thomas Achilles Townsend [6A14] |
| Mother: | Carmichael, Eveline Victoria |
| Spouse: |
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| Issue: | |
| See Also: | Table VIA ; Scrapbook ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree |
Notes for Major Philip Achilles Kingston Townshend OBE
Zoë Earnshaw-Howell (1) was a daughter of master cutler Samuel Earnshaw-Howell of Beltwood in Sheffield, son of Joseph Howell who founded the company of Howell & Co Ltd.
Philip was commissioned into the Bedfordshire Regiment on 4 March 1903 (2). Promoted Lieutenant in April 1904, he transferred to the 49th Regt of Foot (Princess Charlotte of Wales's - Royal Berkshire Regt) in July 1909 (3).
It is known that Philip was serving with the 2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment in India in 1911 because the Official Directory of Coronation Durbar in Delhi in 1911 lists on page 323 all the officers of the regiment which was billeted in ‘CAMP 208 MAP M-14’. It would appear that the Battalion was stationed at Jansi, India and returned to the UK in October 1914 prior to joining 25th Brigade in 8th Division before moving to France in November 1914.
Promoted Captain on 28 September 1914 (4), Philip’s wartime experiences in France at the Battle of Neuve Chappelle in 1915 are a vivid recollection of the horrors of trench warfare in the First World War - they are reproduced in his 'Scrapbook'. The London Gazette records that he filled a number of staff appointments in the War Office between July 1917 and December 1919 (5). Promoted Major on 8 December 1923 (6) Philip retired from the Army on 21 January 1925 (7) having undertaken further regimental and staff appointments. He was appointed OBE on 30 May 1924.
Following his 22 years of service in the Army Philip ran the Pembridge Manor Hotel, Pembridge Crescent, London, W11 until the outbreak of World War II when he was appointed Deputy Chief Military Censor at the Ministry of Information.
At the time of his death Philip was living at 27, Kempsford Gardens, Kensington, London - London Gazette 38944 page 3145 dated 16 May 1950!!!
(1) Zoe Elaine Howell was born in June 1879 and died on 13 March 1931. Howell and Co Ltd, Sheffield Tube Works, Sheffield, was established in 1872 and ceased operations about 1919. It was one of the great cutlery dynasties of Sheffield.
(2) London Gazette 27531 page 420 dated 3 March 1903.
(3) London Gazette 28268 page 5194 dated 6 July 1909.
(4) London Gazette 29096 supplement 2481 dated 9 March 1915.
(5) London Gazette issues 30189, 31635 and 31718
(6) London Gazette 32895 page 155 dated 4 January 1924.
(7) London Gazette 33013 page 451 dated 20 January 1925.
(8) London Gazette 32941 page 4413 dated 30 May 1924.