Francis Edward Steavenson Townsend (6C33)

Date of Birth: 7 Mar 1893
Date of Death: ka 30 Sep 1916
Generation: 8th
Residence: Unknown
Father: Doctor Francis Edward Townsend [6C16]
Mother: Steavenson, Annette Theresa
Spouse: Unmarried
Issue: None
See Also: Table VIC ; Scrapbook ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree

Notes for Francis Edward Steavenson Townsend

Following his education at Durham School Edward joined his uncle, Francis E Steavenson, Town Clerk of Darlington, to serve his articles as a solicitor and would have sat his final exams in six months following the outbreak for the Great War.

Like his brother Arthur Eric Townsend [6C34], Francis was commissioned into the 5th Battalion the Durham Light Infantry on 4 October 1914 (1). Promoted Lieutenant in July 1915 (2) he died of shrapnel wounds to the head received in action at Abbeyville, France, on 16 September 1916. Francis' parents went to France and were by his side when he died.

There is a Durham Light Infantry memorial to him and his brother, Arthur, in Christ Church, Eston, Cleveland (Grid reference NZ550190).

(1) London Gazette 28945 page 8405 dated 20 October 1914.

(2) London Gazette 29245 page 7451 dated 27 July 1915.