Major Samuel Charles Chetwood Townsend (6B24)

Date of Birth: 25 Jul 1870
Date of Death: 1 May 1904
Generation: 7th
Residence: Devonport, Devonshire
Father: Major John Crewe Chetwood Townsend [6B04]
Mother: Frances Dorothea Townsend [6A16]
Spouse:
  1. Townsend, Mary Young [6B33]
Issue:
  1. Enid Aileen Violet [6B34]
See Also: Table VIB ; Scrapbook ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree

Notes for Major Samuel Charles Chetwood Townsend

Samuel was three years old when his father died. It is not known whether his mother brought him up at the family home at Firmount or returned with her children to her childhood home at Garrycloyne where her brother, Richard Horatio Townsend [6A10], was then living. He died in 1879 and the house passed to his eldest son, Samuel Philip Townsend [6A20], who leased the property when he emigrated to Australia in 1887.

Married 26 June 1897 (1). Mary Young Townsend [6B33] (2) who was the youngest daughter of Professor Edward Townsend [6B20] of Queen's College, Galway. George Hugh Townsend [6B36], Samuel's cousin, was best man.

Samuel was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery on 14 February 1890 (3). Promoted Lieutenant on 14 February 1893 he was seconded for service in the Army Ordnance Department on 26 February 1897 and appointed 'Ordnance Officer Fourth Class' (4). Samuel was promoted Captain sometime before September 1899; an entry in the London Gazette that year records "Captain S. C. C. Townsend, Royal Artillery, to be Major, in recognition of his services during the operations in South Africa, 1896. Dated 5th October, 1899." (5)

Samuel died as the result of an accident whilst out shooting. Page 482 of The Calendar of Wills and Administration 1858-1922 in the National Archives of Ireland records that Probate of the will of "Samuel Charles Chetwode Townsend late of Devonport County Devon Major RA”, who died on 1 May 1904, was granted at Dublin on 28 July 1904 to "Mary Young Townsend the Widow". Effects £622 14s 2d.

(1) Entry in the diary of Agnes Townsend [334] - "June 26th 1897 Iney T's daughter Mary Young married to Lieutenant Samuel Chetwood T".

(2) Mary was Samuel's cousin. She died in 1941.

(3) London Gazette 26026 page 1045 dated 25 February 1890.

(4) London Gazette 26835 and London Gazette 26841.

(5) London Gazette 27125 page 6116 dated 10 October 1899.