7th Marquess Townshend

[Leigh Rayment]

According to a notice in 'The Times' the 7th Marquess Townshend died on 23 April.  Members of this group will recall that the 7th Marquess held the record for the longest ever enjoyment of a peerage - I make it 88 years and 157 days

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[marquess]

I don't think that we will see anyone holding a marquisate for longer
than he did!

[Richard R]

Thanks Leigh. Here's the Times announcement:

27 April 2010:
George John Patrick Dominic TOWNSHEND
George John Patrick Dominic, 7th Marquess Townshend of Raynham, on
Friday 23rd April 2010. Private Funeral. A Service of Thanksgiving
will be held in Norwich Cathedral, date to be announced. Inquiries:
Tel (01328) 838838.

He was the son of the 6th Marquess TOWNSHEND (1866-1921) and Gladys
Ethel Gwendolen Eugénie (d 1946, having m 2ndly Bernard le Strange)
dau of Thomas SUTHERST. He m 1st 1939 (div 1960) Elizabeth Pamela
Audrey (d 1989) dau of Maj Thomas LUBY and had issue; he m 2ndly 1960
Ann Frances (d 1988) dau of Arthur Pellew DARLOW of Portugal and had
further issue; he m 3rdly 2004 Mrs Philippa Sophia Swire, dau Col
George Jardine KIDSTON-MONTGOMERIE of Southannan DSO MC, and formerly
wife of late Humphrey Roger Swire. He is succeeded in the Marquessate
as follows:

CHARLES GEORGE TOWNSHEND (styled Viscount Raynham from birth) b 1945;
succ his father as 8th Marquess TOWNSHEND 2010. Also Viscount Raynham
and Baron Townshend. Educ Eton; Man Dir Raynham Workshops Ltd 1986-94,
Chm Pera International 1988-96; Gen Commr Income Tax Norwich 1989-97:
he m 1st 1975 Hermione (d 1985) dau of Lt-Cdr Robert Martin Dominic
PONSONBY (scion of the Earls of Bessborough); he m 2nd 1990 Mrs Alison
Marshall dau of Sir Willis Ide COMBS KCVO CMG of Wadhurst Park, E
Sussex, and has issue by his 1st marriage:

SON LIVING (by 1st marriage)
Thomas Charles TOWNSHEND (heir apparent, likely to be styled Viscount
Raynham as only other available title is the barony of Towshend) b 2
Nov 1977. Unmarried

DAUGHTER LIVING (by 1st marriage)
Lady Louise Elizabeth TOWNSHEND b 1979 m 2006 Edson DA PAIXAO

HALF-BROTHER LIVING
Lord John Patrick TOWNSHEND b 1962; m 1st 1987 (div 1991) Rachel Lucy
dau of FM Sir John CHAPPLE GCB KBE ADC Gen; he m 2nd 1999 Helen BURT
(née Chin), and has issue living by his 2nd m: George b 2003, Isobel
b 2001.

SISTERS LIVING
Lady Carolyn Elizabeth Ann TOWNSHEND b 1940; resumed her maiden name;
m 1st 1962 (div 1971) Antonio CAPELLINI son of Vincenzo Capellini and
Donna Anna Candeo Vanzetti, of Genoa; she m 2nd 1973 (annulled 1974)
Edgar Miles BRONFMAN of NY, son of Samuel Bronfman, of Montreal, and
has issue living by her 1st m: Vincenzo Charles CAPELLINI TOWNSHEND b
1963, m 1994 Rachael dau of Mark DANIELS and has issue living: Luca b
1995, Sofia b 1996, Luisa Carolyn b 1998

Lady Joanna Agnes TOWNSHEND b 1943; m 1st 1962 (div 1968) Jeremy
George Courtenay BRADFORD son of Cdr George Francis Norton Bradford,
RN; she m 2nd 1978 (div 1984), James Barry MORRISEY; she m 3rd 1991
Christian Marc BOEGNOR son of Etienne Boegnor, and has issue by her
1st m: Francis James Patrick BRADFORD b 1963 (for whom Princess
Benedikte of Denmark stood sponsor)

HALF-SISTER LIVING
Lady Katherine Ann TOWNSHEND b 1963; m 1st 1991 (div 2000) Piers W.
DENT son of Robin Dent, of Olivers, Painswick, Glos; she m 2nd 2001 Dr
Guy Langford BAYLEY, and has issue - by her 1st m: Lucia DENT b 1992,
Mollie DENT b 1995; by her 2nd m: Inca Nell BAYLEY b 2001, Skye
BAYLEY b 2002

[Michael Rhodes]

_The 7th Marquess Townshend, who died on St George's Day 2010, aged
93, had been a peer for 88 years, having inherited the peerage in
1921.

George John Patrick Dominic [Townshend], 7th Marquess Townshend, was
born 13 May, 1916, son of the 6th Marquess (1866-1921), by his wife,
the former Gwladys Ethel Gwendolen Eugénie Sutherst, d. 10 Oct 1959),
1st dau. of Thomas Sutherst, of Fountains Court, Temple, London.

Succeeded his father, 17 Nov 1921, aged 5.

He married firstly, 2 Sep 1939 (div. 1960) Elizabeth Pamela Audrey
Luby (mar. (2) 1960 Brig Sir James Gault KCMG; d. 1989), only dau. of
Lt Col Thomas Luby, Judicial Commissioner, ICS, by whom he had issue;
married 2ndly, 22 Dec 1960, Ann Frances Darlow (d. 1988), only dau. of
Arthur Pellew Darlow, of Portugal, by whom he had further issue, and
married 3rdly, 7 May 2004 Philippa Sophia Swire (b. 28 Apr 1935; widow
of Humphrey Roger Swire, of Dean Manor, Charlbury, co. Oxford, only
son of Lt Col Cyril George William Swire, of Coldicote Farm, Moreton-
in-Marsh, co. Gloucester), only dau. of Lt Col George Jardine Kidston
later Kidston-Montgomerie of Southannan DSO MC, of Longbottom,
Biddesden, co. Hampshire, and Fairlie, co. Ayr (by his wife Lydia
Cecilia Mason, dau. of Maj Peter George Mason DSO), 1st son and heir
of Richard Logan Kidston by his wife Sophia Egidia Guendolen Allenby-
Montgomerie, 1st dau. of Capt Samuel Hynman Allenby later Allenby-
Montgomerie, of Southannan House, co. Ayr, and Garnsgate Hall, co.
Lincoln, by his wife Lady Sophia Constance Montgomerie, 1st dau. and
cohrss. of Archibald William [Montgomerie], 14th Earl of Eglinton.

Lord Townshend is succeeded by his son from his 1st marriage, Charles
George Townshend, styled Viscount Raynham (b. 26 Sep 1945), mar. (1) 8
Oct 1975 Hermione Evans (former wife of Anthony J C Evans; d. 1985),
only child of Lt Cdr Robert Martin Dominic Ponsonby RN (by his first
wife Dorothy Edith Jane Lane, yst. dau. of Henry Hervey Vincent Lane,
of King's Bromley Manor, co. Stafford), 1st son of Sir George Arthur
Ponsonby KCVO, Comptroller and Private Secretary to HM Queen Maud of
Norway 1919-38 (by his first wife Julia Winifred Maitland OIdfield,
dau. of Phineas A R Oldfield), 1st son of Robert Charles Ponsonby (by
his wife Mary Machlachlan, 1st dau. of George Machlachlan of
Machlachlan), 3rd son of Rt Hon Sir Spencer Cecil Brabazon Ponsonby
later Ponsonby-Fane GCB ISO, of Brympton, Yeovil, co. Somerset (by his
wife Hon Louisa Anne Rose Lee Dillon, 3rd dau. of Henry Augustus
[Dillon], 13th Viscount Dillon), 6th son of John William [Ponsonby],
4th Earl of Bessborough, &c.

A service of Thanksgiving is to be held at Nnorwich Cathedral.

-==--

[marquess]

I think that the second longest holder of a marquisate at least in
20th was the 7th marquis of Downshire who held his marquisate from
1918-89. The Townshend collaterals are not so well furnished as one
might think. There are what I would call viable heirs, 8 born since
65, the one born in 65 being Robert Paul Townshend who has a a son b
2003, the rest are born in 70's and 80's. Those 8 don't include the
current heir and the half brother of the new marquis and his son.

On 27 Apr, 03:45, Michael Rhodes <mig73allenford2...@yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

[marquess]

I note that that late marquis was Patron of 13 Livings, does anyone
know the acreage around Raynham Hall?

[Michael Rhodes]

On 27 Apr, 08:33, marquess <marquessmarqu...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> I don't think that we will see anyone holding a marquisate for longer
> than he did!

With increased longevity it can happen again, especially where a peer
is born posthumously.

[Michael Rhodes]

On 28 Apr, 01:34, marquess <marquessmarqu...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> I note that that late marquis was Patron of 13 Livings, does anyone
> know the acreage around Raynham Hall?

The late 6th Marquess left 20,000 acres at his decease in 1921, but
how many were lost to death duties, if any, is unknown to me.

[marquess]

Probably quite a bit if he is was the Patron of 13 Livings, though I
have never seen the family on the Times Rich List, unless land in
Norfolk isn't that valuable?

On 29 Apr, 00:20, Michael Rhodes <mig73allenford2...@yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

[Leigh Rayment]

> I don't think that we will see anyone holding a marquisate for longer
> than he did!

The current Marquess of Waterford is a chance....if he lives until he is 90,
he will break the record.

In order to have a chance to break Townshend's record, a peer must have
succeeded at a very young age and then live well into his 90s. The following
peers meet the first criterion, all of them having succeeded before they
were 10 years old......

* the 9th Earl of Chichester, who has been a peer since the day he was born
* the 9th Earl of Craven (although no Earl has even reached 70 in the last
300 years)
* the 3rd Baron Davies
* the 6th Earl of Erne
* the 14th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
* the 8th Baron Foley
* the 17th Viscount Gormanston
* the 10th Earl of Hardwicke
* the 3rd Baron Hesketh
* the 15th Earl of Kinnoull
* the 9th Baron Londesborough
* the 3rd Baron Lyell
* the 3rd Baron Monk Bretton
* the 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu
* the 6th Viscount Selby
* the 7th Baron Sudeley
* the 21st Earl of Suffolk and 14th Earl of Berkshire
* the 2nd Viscount Ullswater
* the 6th Baron Wrottesley

Putting on my actuarial hat for a moment, the most recent mortality table
used by actuaries in Australia shows that, on average, a male has a 20.5%
chance of reaching 90. For females the chance is just over 1 in 3 (34.6%),
reflecting the fact that females as a group live longer than males. I'm
unable to readily lay my hands on the latest English mortality table, but
intuitively the chances would be lower in England, given that the current
life expectancies in Australia (males 78.9 years and females 83.6 years) are
higher than those in the UK (males 77.2, females 81.6).

The tables also show that the current Marquess of Waterford, who is at
present aged nearly 77, has about a 31% chance of attaining 90. Similar
analysis for each of the peers listed above show that Lords Foley and
Montagu of Beaulieu are, statistically, the overwhelming favourites to break
Townshend's record - Foley about a 44% chance and Montagu about 39.5%. It
must be borne in mind, however, that using the mortality table in this
manner gives rise to large standard deviations from the mean. In addition,
using an Australian mortality table will tend to produce slightly higher
chances, given the difference in life expectancies between the two
countries. However, common sense also says that Lord Foley (who is 87 next
birthday and who has held the peerage for over 83 years) and Lord Montagu of
Beaulieu (who is 84 next birthday and who had held the peerage for over 81
years) have the best chances of breaking Townshend's record.

[Michael Rhodes]

Townshend's obit in the Norwich paper

http://www.edp24.co.uk/content/edp24/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=xDefault&itemid=NOED27%20Apr%202010%2015%3A14%3A11%3A737

Landowner, industrialist and the founding chairman of Anglia
Television, the Marquess Townshend of Raynham, has died just three
weeks before his 94th birthday.

For almost 30 years he headed Anglia Television and, with fellow
Norfolk landowner the late Lord Aubrey Buxton, earned the broadcaster
an international reputation for programme-making.

Under his direction, the family estate at Raynham, near Fakenham, has
been transformed over the past 40 years into a highly-efficient arable
enterprise of around 6,000 acres.

The Townshend family has owned land in West Norfolk for 600 years,
since the reign of Edward IV. One 17th century ancestor, "Turnip"
Townshend, helped launch the agricultural revolution.

Born on May 13, 1916, George John Patrick Dominic Townshend was just
five years old when he inherited the family title, dating from 1786,
as the seventh marquess.

When, in April 1926, the nine-year-old was threatened by kidnappers
who demanded a £5,000 ransom, the family home, Raynham Hall, was under
police guard night and day. The plot came to nothing and the heir to
the then 18,000-acre estate was not told of the threats.

Educated at Harrow, he joined the Norfolk Yeomanry in 1936 and was
later aide-de-camp to Gen Sir Edmund (later Field Marshal) Ironside,
then in charge of Eastern Command. He served in the Scots Guards and
volunteered to join a skiing battalion training for the Norwegian
expedition, but in 1940 he fractured his skull during the London
bombing raids and had to take a less active role as an instructor at
Sandhurst.

On September 2, 1939, the day before the outbreak of the second world
war, he married Elizabeth Luby. When they returned to the family seat
in 1945 with two daughters and heir, Viscount Raynham, the property
needed major restoration. The house, built in the early 17th century,
had been requisitioned by the army. It took years to restore the
damage, which then estimated at £45,000. One attic had been used as a
shooting gallery - the bullet holes are still there.

Invited to join the board of Norwich Union in 1950, his ability was
speedily recognised. In the mid 1950s, when independent commercial
television was proposed, he became chairman of one of nine groups
competing for the East Anglia contract.

It was potentially risky, but Lord Townshend's leadership and
enthusiasm secured backers including the publisher of the EDP, the
Norfolk News Company (now Archant), May Gurney, two Cambridge colleges
and Norwich Union (now Aviva).

He was founder chairman in June 1958 and served until 1986. On his
retirement, aged 70, one building was named Townshend House. He was
chairman of Survival Anglia for 15 years as the programmes were sold
around the world, earning a Queen's Award for export achievement.

When Anglia needed a symbol, he bought the silver knight from a London
jeweller.

Lord Townshend said a great friend, Algeron Asprey, had a silver
statue of Richard the Lionheart. "I thought it appropriate to have
such a legendary figure as our new emblem," he said. "The sword in his
right hand was removed and replaced by the Anglia flag."

When the much-loved knight had been dumped for a more modern image,
Lord Townshend wrote to the EDP in January 2006 welcoming its
reinstatement before the 6pm news programme.

Agriculture, the foundation of the family's wealth and political
power, was always important. In his maiden speech in the Lords on June
24, 1947, he spoke during the second reading of the Agriculture Bill.
He said that Norfolk's farming economy was based on keeping fat cattle
and sheep but prices were so low that ewe flocks had been sold.

However, he was determined to transform the estate, pioneering the
latest techniques. And his estate was also innovative; in the 1970s
using on-floor grain drying and running a 150-cow dairy herd with just
two staff.

As president of Fakenham Young Farmers' Club, at the first annual
meeting in October 1948, he outlined his plans to visit France to
study mechanised crop lifting.

In May 1950, he became a member of Norfolk agricultural executive
committee. He was a great supporter of Norfolk Agricultural Station,
the independent farmer-owned research charity, then based at
Sprowston, for six decades, and was chairman between 1973 and 1987.

And 18 months ago, the frail but determined president of its successor
body, Morley Agricultural Foundation, cut the first sod of a new £1m
office and business centre at its headquarters near Wymondham.

Agriculture's importance to the rural economy was reflected in Anglia
TV's output, hence he promoted programmes like Farming Diary.

In 1972, he became the fourth member of the family to become president
of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association. More than a century
earlier, his great-grandfather had held the post in 1858.

So it was fitting when he was chairman of the RNAA for 10 years until
1985. He also represented Norfolk as a council member of the Royal
Agricultural Society of England.

His business career was notable. He was vice-chairman of Norwich Union
Life Insurance from 1973 and Fire Insurance, until he retired in
1986.

A former president of Norfolk Country Land and Business Association,
he warmly welcomed the West Norfolk Foxhounds. And he was delighted
when one of the largest ever fields, including more than 200 mounted
and hundreds of spectators, assembled at Raynham Hall on New Year's
Day, 2005.

He had also been a skier and was an excellent shot. He was appointed a
deputy Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk in 1951 and was awarded an honorary
degree by the University of East Anglia in 1989.

When he retired, he revealed in an interview with the EDP, that he had
always enjoyed Anglia dramas like PD James and the Tales of the
Unexpected, and even Dallas.

A former colleague described him as a "traditional country landowner,
very busy in agricultural and county affairs. He is a man with immense
pride in his ancestry, with impeccable old-fashioned standards in
everything he does".

He is survived by two daughters, Lady Carolyn Townshend and Lady
Joanna Boegner, by his first marriage. Divorced in 1960, he had a son,
Lord John Townshend and daughter, Lady Katherine Bayley by his second
wife, Ann, who died in 1988. Finally, he married Philippa Swire in
2004.

He leaves five children and is survived by the Dowager Marchioness
Townshend. His son, Charles, Viscount Raynham, succeeds.

A private funeral at the estate church will be followed by a service
of thanksgiving at Norwich Cathedral, date to be announced.

Michael Pollitt

[marquess]

Here is a decent Obit from a local Norwich newspaper, which states
that the Raynham estate is 6000 acres though in 1926 it was 18,000 one
wonders what happened to the acreage, unless the then trustees sold
some of it off. My understanding of the tax system was that
agricultural land was not subjected to inheritance tax?

http://www.edp24.co.uk/content/edp24/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=xDefault&itemid=NOED27%20Apr%202010%2015%3A14%3A11%3A737

[Michael Rhodes]

The 7th Marquess Townshend, who died on St George's Day aged 93, was a
Norfolk landowner on a grand scale and a pioneer of commercial
broadcasting as the founder chairman of Anglia Television; he was also
the longest known holder of a British peerage, having been the fruit
of a marriage which scandalised Edwardian England more than a century
ago.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/tv-radio-obituaries/7653338/Marquess-Townshend.html

The Townshends have been seated at Raynham, between King's Lynn and
Fakenham, since the 15th century, when Sir Roger Townshend was a judge
of the Court of Common Pleas. His grandson was knighted in 1588 for
gallantry at sea during the battle against the Spanish Armada, and in
1617 another Roger Townshend was raised to the baronetcy – shortly
before embarking on the building of the Italianate mansion of Raynham
Hall, possibly with the assistance of Inigo Jones.

A viscountcy was acquired in the next generation; its second holder
was "Turnip" Towshend, the 18th-century statesman and agricultural
reformer who introduced European methods of crop rotation as well as
the large-scale cultivation of turnips, a project with which he was
said (by Alexander Pope) to be obsessed. The marquessate was granted
in 1787 to the 4th Viscount, a military man who served under Wolfe at
Quebec and was later Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.


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agoTall, handsome and impeccably well mannered, the seventh marquess
was the grandest of Norfolk's non-royal grandees. He was a farmer and
wartime soldier in the family tradition, but he was also a successful
entrepreneur in the very progressive sphere of commercial
broadcasting.

When bids were invited for the East of England television franchise in
1958, Anglia was the most distinctive of four competing consortia.
Investors brought together by Townshend included the Norwich Union
insurance company, the Manchester Guardian newspaper and two Cambridge
colleges. Anglia's first directors included the naturalist Aubrey
Buxton (later Lord Buxton of Alsa), the West End theatre owner Donald
Albery and the film maker John Woolf.

Based in a former agricultural hall in Norwich, Anglia went on air for
the first time in autumn 1959, serving homes from Peterborough to the
east coast and later extending northwards to Lincolnshire and
Humberside. It developed a reputation for quality that belied its
relatively small size – with particular strengths in wildlife and
historical documentaries, and original drama.

As chairman of Anglia for 28 years, Townshend was a prominent voice in
the industry, speaking out (as head of the British Regional Television
Association) on behalf of the smaller regional broadcasters when their
interests were threatened either by more powerful London-based
franchises or by the policies of the Independent Television
Authority.

He was particularly exercised by the ITA's levy on advertising
revenues, which he described as an "obnoxious" imposition on high-risk
businesses that needed strong cash-flow to enable them to cope with
rapid technological change.

He was also a firm upholder of moral standards on the small screen. In
1970 he intervened to stop Anglia showing nude scenes from the erotic
musical Oh! Calcutta! in an arts documentary. And in 1973 he joined
Lord Shawcross, the chairman of Thames Television, in objecting to the
network broadcasting of a controversial documentary about Andy Warhol
– attracting the accusation from another lordly chairman, Bernstein of
Granada, that the pair were being "holier than thou".

George John Patrick Dominic Townshend was born in London on May 13
1916, the only son of the 6th Marquess, who achieved some notoriety
after a series of court cases revealed the uncomfortable truth that
his wedding in 1905 to George's mother, Gladys Sutherst, was a hard-
nosed commercial arrangement.

Having fallen on hard times, the 6th Marquess first sold off parts of
his inheritance, including a lease on Raynham Hall, then set off for
America – accompanied by a former curate and amateur hypnotist called
Robbins, who had some influence over him – to find a rich wife. A Mrs
Evelyn Sheffield of Jacksonville, Florida, seemed to fit the bill, but
Lord Townshend broke off the engagement when he discovered she was not
as rich as she had implied.

Mrs Sheffield sued for breach of promise, but the case collapsed when
she was revealed to be a former barmaid. Returning to England,
Townshend was introduced by an intermediary (who was promised a 10 per
cent commission) to a barrister called Sutherst, who agreed to pay off
the marquess's debts in return for a marriage that would make
Sutherst's daughter a marchioness.

Shortly after the wedding, Sutherst tried to have the marquess
declared insane: a court found him incapable of managing his own
financial affairs, but sane enough to remain at liberty, under the
care of his wife. The sinister Robbins was then prosecuted by the
marquess's trustees for improperly disposing of Townshend paintings
and jewellery

Lady Townshend – who made a career as a writer of "scenarios" for the
silent cinema and was sometimes described as the most beautiful woman
in England – later wrote of a "curious kink" in the Townshend genes.
There had indeed been a number of cases of extreme eccentricity over
the centuries. Nevertheless, Gladys gave every impression of being
genuinely devoted to her husband, and set herself the challenge of
restoring his fortunes so that George and his younger sister Elizabeth
could be brought up in Raynham Hall, and George would eventually
inherit the estate in good order, even though she had to sell some of
the family's extensive land holdings elsewhere.

Having displaced as heir presumptive his kinsman General Sir Charles
Townshend, hero of the 1915 siege of Kut in Mesopotamia, George duly
succeeded as 7th Marquess and 12th baronet on his father's death in
1921.

The young peer's incident-prone childhood and youth were avidly
chronicled by the popular press. He was reported to have seen and
accurately described "the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall" (the ghost of
"Turnip" Townshend's wife, Lady Dorothy Walpole) and to have received
letters, signed "a British Communist", threatening to kidnap him – to
which his mother responded: "His assailants will have to look out, for
he is a very clever little boxer."

He survived a near-fatal bout of blood poisoning after being injured
playing cricket at Harrow; a serious road accident in which he was the
17-year-old driver; and another smash in 1940 in which a fellow
officer, Lord Blythswood, was killed and it was unclear to the coroner
which of them had been driving.

The marquess's 21st birthday in 1937 fell on the day after George VI's
Coronation – and although some legal experts said that "coming of age"
was achieved on the eve of the actual anniversary, the Lord
Chancellor's Office decreed that Townshend could not be summoned to
participate in the ceremonies as a peer because it was impossible for
him to take his seat in the House of Lords in time. He was, however,
entitled to attend as a minor, seated behind the robed peers.

By way of compensation, his mother threw what she called an "extra
special" party for him at Raynham, involving 600 guests, tenants,
schoolchildren, civic dignitaries and – according to one breathless
reporter – "the fire brigade chiefs of 12 nations".

Lord Townshend joined the Suffolk and Norfolk Yeomanry in 1936, and
was an ADC to General Sir Edmund Ironside as GOC Eastern Command. In
1940 he transferred to the Scots Guards and volunteered for its ski
battalion, which was formed to fight the Russians in Finland, after
training at Chamonix; but neutral Sweden refused permission for
British troops to cross its territory, and the unit was swiftly
disbanded.

In April 1942 Townshend had a lucky escape when 25 officers and men
were killed, and more than 70 injured, by machine-gun fire from a
Hurricane aircraft during a demonstration exercise at Imber on
Salisbury Plain.

After the war Townshend devoted himself to the estate and to
maintaining the Hall, parts of which were let out as apartments. A
countryman at heart despite the growing demands of business life, and
proud of his descent from the great 18th-century agriculturalist, he
was active in the running of the home farm and at his ease among his
farming tenants and neighbours.

He spoke occasionally in House of Lords debates on agricultural and
bloodstock matters; and, among a portfolio of business interests, he
became vice-chairman of the Norwich Union insurance company and
chairman of its City subsidiary, AP Bank; when AP was sold in 1983 he
joined the board of its new owner, Riggs National Bank of Washington,
DC. He was also a long-serving director of London Merchant Securities,
the property-development empire created by Max (later Lord) Rayne.

He was chairman of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association, as his
mother had been, and a Deputy Lieutenant of the county for a decade
until his divorce in 1960. With his second wife, Ann, he established a
stud farm for Arab horses and took up stag hunting in Devon.

Lord Townshend married first, in 1939, Elizabeth Luby, daughter of a
judicial commissioner in the Indian Civil Service. They had a son and
two daughters; the marriage was dissolved in 1960, and Elizabeth died
in 1989. He married secondly, in 1960, Ann Darlow, who died in 1988;
they had a son and a daughter.

Thirdly, in 2004, he married Philippa Swire, mother of the
Conservative MP Hugo Swire, who survives him. The heir to Lord
Townshend's titles is his elder son Charles, Viscount Raynham, born in
1945.

On March 2 2009, the 7th marquess became the longest known holder of a
peerage, having passed the record of 87 years and 104 days set by the
13th Lord Sinclair in 1863.

[marquess]

See also th is BBC article which states the estate is 7000 and talks
about the family history:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/norfolk/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8058000/8058145.stm

On 29 Apr, 13:49, "Leigh Rayment" <lraym...@ozemail.com.au> wrote:

[marquess]

We seem to be working at the same time Micheal? I thought I would beat
the traffic with the time difference, but you're an early riser!

On 29 Apr, 18:51, Michael Rhodes <mig73allenford2...@yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

> The 7th Marquess Townshend, who died on St George's Day aged 93, was a
> Norfolk landowner on a grand scale and a pioneer of commercial
> broadcasting as the founder chairman of Anglia Television; he was also
> the longest known holder of a British peerage, having been the fruit
> of a marriage which scandalised Edwardian England more than a century
> ago.
>

> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/tv-radi...

[Michael Rhodes]

On 30 Apr, 08:09, marquess <marquessmarqu...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> We seem to be working at the same time Micheal? I thought I would beat
> the traffic with the time difference, but you're an early riser!

Oh yes. It's an early day for me today!

Townshend's Times obituary says he farmed 6,500 acres.

[Richard R]

Here's an extract from and link to the Times obit of 30.4.2010:

As the 7th Marquess Townshend, he had the distinction of being a peer
for longer than any other in British history. He succeeded his father
at the age of five in 1921 and he surpassed the record of 87 years 104
days held by Charles St Clair, 13th Lord Sinclair (1768-1863),
… The 7th marquess’s mother, Gwladys Sutherst, was described in the
New York Times as the most beautiful woman in England. A play by her,
The Fold, was performed in London in 1920. Her memoirs, It Was — and
it Wasn’t, were published in 1937. As dowager, she brought up her son
at Raynham. In April 1926, when he was 9, she received letters
threatening to kidnap him. A solicitor’s clerk from Oxford was
subsequently arrested and charged.
… After reaching his majority in 1937, he took his seat in the Lords.
In May 1948, when Conservative Whip, he was one of 11 peers who
proposed the abolition of privilege of the peerage in criminal
proceedings. He continued to attend the House regularly until the
hereditaries were expelled in 1999.
… Fittingly, as a descendant of the 2nd Viscount, “Turnip” Townsend,
the father of four-crop rotation, he was also busy farming his 6,500
acres, chairing the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association and
breeding prize-winning Ayrshire cattle and Arabian horses.
… He married Elizabeth Luby in 1939. They divorced in 1960 and he
married Ann Frances Darlow, who died in 1988. He is survived by his
third wife, Philippa Sophia Swire, whom he married in 2004, and by a
son and two daughters from his first marriage and a son and daughter
from his second. His elder son, Viscount Raynham, succeeds to the
marquessate.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article7112530.ece


On Apr 30, 8:15 am, Michael Rhodes <mig73allenford2...@yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

> On 30 Apr, 08:09, marquess <marquessmarqu...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > We seem to be working at the same time Micheal? I thought I would beat
> > the traffic with the time difference, but you're an early riser!
>
> Oh yes. It's an early day for me today!
>

> Townshend'sTimes obituary says he farmed 6,500 acres.

[Richard R]

Our record-breaking peer's memorial service details:

7th Marquess Townshend, A Service of Thanksgiving to celebrate the
life and work of Lord Townshend is to be held at 12 noon on Friday
25th June 2010, in Norwich Cathedral. Published in The Times on May
12, 2010

On May 1, 11:03 am, Richard R <r_rut...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Here's an extract from and link to the Times obit of 30.4.2010:
>

> As the 7th MarquessTownshend, he had the distinction of being a peer

> for longer than any other in British history. He succeeded his father
> at the age of five in 1921 and he surpassed the record of 87 years 104
> days held by Charles St Clair, 13th Lord Sinclair (1768-1863),
> … The 7th marquess’s mother, Gwladys Sutherst, was described in the
> New York Times as the most beautiful woman in England. A play by her,
> The Fold, was performed in London in 1920. Her memoirs, It Was — and
> it Wasn’t, were published in 1937. As dowager, she brought up her son
> at Raynham. In April 1926, when he was 9, she received letters
> threatening to kidnap him. A solicitor’s clerk from Oxford was
> subsequently arrested and charged.
> … After reaching his majority in 1937, he took his seat in the Lords.
> In May 1948, when Conservative Whip, he was one of 11 peers who
> proposed the abolition of privilege of the peerage in criminal
> proceedings. He continued to attend the House regularly until the
> hereditaries were expelled in 1999.
> … Fittingly, as a descendant of the 2nd Viscount, “Turnip” Townsend,
> the father of four-crop rotation, he was also busy farming his 6,500
> acres, chairing the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association and
> breeding prize-winning Ayrshire cattle and Arabian horses.
> … He married Elizabeth Luby in 1939. They divorced in 1960 and he
> married Ann Frances Darlow, who died in 1988. He is survived by his
> third wife, Philippa Sophia Swire, whom he married in 2004, and by a
> son and two daughters from his first marriage and a son and daughter
> from his second. His elder son, Viscount Raynham, succeeds to the

> marquessate.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article7112530.ece