Charles Townshend

For other people named Charles Townshend, see Charles Townshend (disambiguation).

The Right Honourable Charles Townshend MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 2 August 1766 – 4 September 1767
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	The Earl of Chatham
Preceded by	William Dowdeswell
Succeeded by	Lord North
President of the Board of Trade
In office 1 March 1763 – 20 April 1763
Preceded by	The Lord Sandys
Succeeded by	The Earl of Shelburne
Personal details
Born	(1725-08-29)29 August 1725 Raynham Hall, Norfolk
Died	4 September 1767(1767-09-04) (aged 42)
Nationality	British
Political party	Whig
Spouse(s)	Lady Caroline Campbell
Alma mater	University of Leiden University of Oxford

Charles Townshend (28 August 1725 – 4 September 1767) was a British politician and key figure in the causation of the American Revolution, with his establishment of the controversial Townshend Acts.

Early life

He was born at his family's seat of Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England, the second son of Charles Townshend, 3rd Viscount Townshend, and Audrey (died 1788), daughter and heiress of Edward Harrison of Ball's Park, near Hertford. He was a sickly child, suffered from epilepsy, and had a strained relationship with his parents. Townshend was a brash young man, whose "wonderful endowments [were] dashed with follies and indiscretions." Charles graduated from the Dutch Leiden University on 27 October 1745; while there he had associated with a small group of other English youth, who later became well known in various circles, including Dowdeswell, Wilkes, and Alexander Carlyle. The latter would chronicle their exploits in his Autobiography.

Following his return, he represented Great Yarmouth in Parliament from 1747 to 1756, when he found a seat for the admiralty borough of Saltash, subsequently transferring in 1761 to Harwich, another borough where the seat was in the government's gift. Public attention was first drawn to his abilities in 1753, when he delivered a lively attack against Lord Hardwicke's marriage bill, although this measure passed into law.

Politics

In April 1759, Townshend was transformed from the position of a member of the Board of Trade, which he had held from 1749, to that of a Lord of the Admiralty, but at the close of 1755 his passionate attack against the policy of the ministry caused his resignation. In the administration which was formed in November 1756, and which was ruled by William Pitt the Elder, the lucrative office of treasurer of the chamber was given to Townshend, but in the following spring he retired and George Grenville took over. The higher post of First Lord of the Admiralty then fell to Townshend's lot and his refusal to accept the nomination led to his exclusion from the new administration.

In the dying days of Grenville's cabinet, to retain the administration of Lord Rockingham, Townshend felt it was below him to accept the highly paid position of Paymaster-General, stating "pretty summer wear," but it will never stand the winter". He refused to identify himself more closely with fortunes as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

However, the same position which he refused from the hands of Lord Rockingham, he accepted from William Pitt in August 1766. A few weeks later his urgent appeals to the great minister for increased power were favourably answered, and he was admitted to the inner circle of the cabinet. The new chancellor proposed the continuance of the land tax at four shillings in the pound, while he held out hopes that it might be reduced next year to three shillings, whereupon his predecessor, William Dowdeswell, by the aid of the landed gentlemen, carried a motion that the reduction should take effect at once. Townshend pledged to find revenue in America with which to meet the deficiency caused by the reduction.

Early in 1767, shortly after the The Stamp Act was repealed due to violent protests, he boasted that he knew the mode by which a revenue could be drawn from America without offense to the Americans, via "external" import taxes instead of internal taxes. This last official act passed through parliament resolutions for taxing several articles, such as glass, paint, paper and tea, on their importation into America, which he estimated would produce the sum of ₤40,000 for the English treasury: the Townshend Acts. He had the support of his cousin Thomas Townshend who was also a minister in the government.

Soon after that he died somewhat suddenly on September 4th, 1767.

Private life

In August 1755 he had married Caroline Campbell (d. 1794), the eldest daughter of John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll and the widow of Francis Scott, Earl of Dalkeith, the eldest son of Francis Scott, 2nd Duke of Buccleuch.

Townshend's wife was created (August 1767) baroness Greenwich, and his elder brother George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, was made Lord-lieutenant of Ireland.

Townshend conceived a great and dangerous passion for his step-daughter Frances Douglas, Lady Douglas, and her memorialist, Lady Louisa Stuart, wrote after his death of his character:

This was careless, gay, inconsiderate, volatile, seemingly foreign to every serious reflection or feeling. He had one of those happy tempers which nothing can ruffle, without a grain of pride, sternness or resentment in his nature. Ready to laugh with every body and at every thing, he poured out wit in torrents; and it was so much the worse for truth if ever truth stood in wit's way.

The American towns of Townsend, Massachusetts and Townshend, Vermont were founded and named after Charles Townshend in 1732 and 1753, respectively. Raynham, Massachusetts was also named after him.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Townshend, Charles" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Lady Louisa Stuart, Memoire of Frances, Lady Douglas (Edinburgh and London, Scottish Academic Press, 1985)
• William Edward Hartpole Lecky, History of England (1892);
• Horace Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of George III., edited by G. F. R. Barker (1894)
• Reuben Percy and Sholto Percy (1823) The Percy Anecdotes, 1823; online text.
• Lee, Sidney, ed. (1899). "Townshend, Charles (1725-1767)" . Dictionary of National Biography. 57. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Thomas, Peter D. G. "Townshend, Charles (1725–1767)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27619. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Memoir (1866) by Percy Fitzgerald

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Roger Townshend Edward Walpole	Member of Parliament for Great Yarmouth 1747–1756 With: Edward Walpole	Succeeded by Charles Townshend Edward Walpole
Preceded by George Clinton Viscount Duncannon	Member of Parliament for Saltash 1756–1761 With: George Clinton	Succeeded by John Clevland George Adams
Preceded by Thomas Sewell Wenman Coke	Member of Parliament for Harwich 1761–1767 With: John Roberts	Succeeded by Thomas Bradshaw John Roberts
Political offices
Preceded by The Earl of Hillsborough	Treasurer of the Chamber 1756–1761	Succeeded by Sir Francis Dashwood, Bt
Preceded by The Lord Holland	Paymaster of the Forces 1765–1766	Succeeded by Lord North and George Cooke
Preceded by William Dowdeswell	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1766–1767	Succeeded by Lord North