George Townshend, 3rd Marquess Townshend

George Ferrars Townshend, 3rd Marquess Townshend (13 December 1778 – 31 December 1855), known as Lord Ferrers of Chartley from 1782 to 1807 and as Earl of Leicester from 1807 to 1855, was a British peer.

Townshend was the eldest son of George Townshend, 2nd Marquess Townshend, and Charlotte Ellerker. His father was created Earl of Leicester in 1782, at which time he received the courtesy title of Lord Ferrers of Chartley. When his father succeeded to the marquessate in 1807, he gained the courtesy title of Earl of Leicester. Lord Leicester married Sarah, daughter and heiress of William Dunn Gardner, in 1807. They had no children and Sarah left him after only a year. (The marriage was never dissolved although she committed adultery in a bigamous marriage). Lord Townshend, as he became after his father's death in 1811, was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.^[1] He was disinherited by his father and lived mainly abroad. Townshend died in Genoa in December 1855, aged 77. The earldom of Leicester became extinct on his death while the baronies of Ferrers of Chartley and Compton fell into abeyance between his nephew and his younger sister. He was succeeded in the marquessate by his first cousin John Townshend.

Sarah, Lady Townshend

Sarah, Lady Townshend, went through a marriage ceremony with a brewer, John Margetts, at Gretna Green in 1809. They had several children who bore their father's name until 1823, then the Townshend name, and were all declared illegitimate by Act of Parliament in 1842.^[2] (According to Francois Velde, one child, being a minor and having no legal guardian, was exempted from the act's provisions). Their eldest son John (20 July 1811 – 11 January 1903) was baptised with the surname Townshend and assumed the title of "Earl of Leicester". He later represented Bodmin in the House of Commons. In 1843 (after the Act of Parliament declaring him illegitimate was passed) he assumed his mother's surname of Dunn Gardner. Sarah, Lady Townshend, died on 11 September 1858.^[3]

Titles and styles

• The Hon George Townshend (13 December 1778 – 1784)
• Lord Ferrers of Chartley (1784 – 14 September 1807)
• Earl of Leicester (14 September 1807 – 27 July 1811)
• The Most Hon The Marquess Townshend (27 July 1811 – 31 December 1855)

Notes

1. "Ferrars, Lord George (FRRS798G)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
2. Francois Velde (2007) "Genetically Challenged" Queen message from alt.talk.royalty, posted 30 May 2007. The message says in part:

   "The Townshend peerage case was one where marquis Townshend (then called Lord Chartley) married Sarah Dunn Gardner in 1807; a year later she left her husband, sued in Ecclesiastical court to have the marriage annulled because of his impotence but dropped the suit and eloped with a brewer of St. Ives. Their children initially bore the brewer's name (Margetts) but from 1823 took the name Townshend, and one took the style of Earl of Leicester. The marquis took no steps to dissolve the marriage, and his brother had no means to dispute the legitimacy of the so-called Earl of Leicester, because no property depended on the title. As time went by and witnesses died off, it seemed the imposture might not be preventable. So the brother and heir presumptive petitioned the house of Lords for inquiry respecting the descent of these honours in May 1842. The next year the marquis himself also petitioned the House.

   Ultimately a private bill was brought "to declare the illegitimacy of certain persons alleged or claiming to be children of the Most Honourable George Ferrars, Marquis Townshend". There was much debate (how could you bastardize the children of a valid and continuing marriage? Was the royal prerogative not infringed? What about ordinary courts?). In the end the bill received royal assent on July 12, 1843 entitled "An Act to declare that certain persons therein mentioned are not children of the Most Honourable George Ferrars, Marquis Townshend" (6 & 7 Vict c. 35) and declaring that "the said several children of the said Sarah Gardner, Marchioness Townshend, hereinbefore respectively mentioned, are not nor were, nor shall they or any of them, be taken to be or be deemed the lawful issue of the said George Ferrars Marquis Townshend" (one child, having no legal guardian, was excepted from the provisions). (Based on Frederick Clifford, A History of Private Bill Legislation, 1885, vol. 1 p. 443–450)."

3. Ibid.

References

•  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1899). "Townshend, George (1755-1811)". Dictionary of National Biography 57. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Information on the Townshend family

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Marquess Townshend