Frederick Townsend, FLS (5 December 1822 – 16 December 1905) was a British botanist and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

politician who served as an

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for six years

Early life and education

Townsend was born in

Rawmarsh Rawmarsh (locally ) is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, in South Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is north-northeast from Rotherham town centre and south-southwest of Swinton. ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

to Rev. Edward James Townsend, a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

clergyman, whose parish was first Rawmarsh and then

Ilmington Ilmington is a village and civil parish about north-west of Shipston-on-Stour and south of Stratford-upon-Avon in the Cotswolds in Warwickshire, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 712. Ilmington is the hi ...

near

Stratford-on-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-wes ...

. Frederick was educated at Harrow and went on to study at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, where he gained a BA in 1850 and then an MA in 1855. He was a respected amateur botanist and was elected a Fellow of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh in 1846 and as a

Fellow of the Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

in 1878. After living in Hampshire for several years he published the "Flora of Hampshire" in 1883, with 2nd edition in 1904. He was a friend to fellow

botanists This is a list of botanists who have Wikipedia articles, in alphabetical order by surname. The List of botanists by author abbreviation is mostly a list of plant taxonomists because an author receives a standard abbreviation only when that auth ...

Cardale Babington Charles Cardale Babington (23 November 1808 – 22 July 1895) was an English botanist and archaeologist. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1851. Babington was the son of Joseph Babington and Cathérine née Whitter, and a nephew ...

and William Williamson Newbould. He was especially close to Newbould until his death in 1886.

Parliamentary career

Townsend entered

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

as MP for

as a result of the 1886 general election in which the Conservative

Marquess of Salisbury Marquess of Salisbury is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1789 for the 7th Earl of Salisbury. Most of the holders of the title have been prominent in British political life over the last two centuries, particularly th ...

became

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, ousting the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

leader,

William Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

. He defeated the incumbent Liberal MP, Lord William Compton, with a majority of 489 votes. The constituency has only once elected a non-Conservative candidate since then. His first recorded contribution in the House of Commons was on the 7 May 1888 and was in regards to the Excise Duties (Local Purposes) Bill; he asked the then

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...

, George Goschen, whether a steam ploughing engine which was only used for agricultural purposes, and thus only travelled by road from the owner's home to their field or from field to field, would be exempt from the £5 duty on locomotives. Townsend did not stand for re-election in the 1892 general election and so was succeeded by fellow Conservative Algernon Freeman-Mitford, grandfather of the

Mitford sisters The Mitford family is an aristocratic English family, whose principal line had its seats at Mitford, Northumberland. Several heads of the family served as High Sheriff of Northumberland. A junior line, with seats at Newton Park, Northumberlan ...

Personal life

In 1863 he married Mary Elizabeth Butler. They lived at first at Shedfield Lodge near

Wickham, Hampshire Wickham () is a large village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Hampshire, England, about three miles north of Fareham. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 4,816, falling to 4,299 at the 2011 Census. Wickham has a wide an ...

. (The building is now a care home.) Both husband and wife worked at improving life for the people of the estate. Her work with the girls' school and orphanage drew the attention of leaders within the Church, and in the 1870s she was encouraged to set up a national organisation, the

Girls' Friendly Society The Girls' Friendly Society In England And Wales (or just GFS) is a charitable organisation that empowers girls and young women aged 5 to 25, encouraging them to develop their full potential through programs that provide training, confidence bu ...

. He became a trustee, and supported her in what became her life-work. As a result of the death of his uncle in 1874, Rev. H. Townsend, he inherited the family estate,

Honington Hall Honington Hall is a privately owned 17th century country house at Honington, near Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire. It has Grade I listed building status. The Manor of Honington was in the ownership of the Priory of Coventry until the Dissolu ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

. He died on the 16 December 1905 in

Cimiez Cimiez (; Italian: ''Cimella'') is an upper class neighborhood in Nice, Southern France. The area contains the Musée Matisse and the ruins of ''Cemenelum'', capital of the Ancient Roman province Alpes Maritimae on the Ligurian coast. ''Cemenel ...

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

. His widow survived him by 13 years. They had no children.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, Frederick 1822 births 1905 deaths People from Rawmarsh People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge UK MPs 1886–1892 British botanists Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies