James Townsend (c.1790 – 12 August 1866) was an English wine merchant, who in later life was a pioneer settler in New Zealand's

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. He was also an amateur

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er.

Life

Townsend was born in 1788. or 1790/1.1841 census details online He played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

from 1821 to 1831. As a cricketer, he was mainly associated with

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC), of which he was a member. He made nine known appearances in first-class matches including four for the

Gentlemen A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...

. He was in business as a

wine merchant A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by winery, wineries or :Wine companies, wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulture, viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grape ...

, and was known for his interest in music. In the 1841 census, Townsend and much of his family were recorded as resident in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

St Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in north London. It was originally a medieval ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the area it covered now forms around ...

. A purchaser of land in the Canterbury settlement, Townsend was listed with the address 21 Evershall Street,

Mornington Crescent Mornington Crescent is a terraced street in Camden Town, Camden, London, England. It was built in the 1820s, on a greenfield site just to the north of central London. Many of the houses were subdivided into flats during the Victorian era, an ...

. A James Townsend, in the wine trade, from this area of north London, was being pursued by creditors in 1847, as reported in the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

''. He was in prison for debt in 1848.

Settler

The Townsend family, with four sons and six daughters, voyaged to New Zealand as settlers in 1850 on one of the

First Four Ships The First Four Ships refers to the four sailing vessels chartered by the Canterbury Association which left Plymouth, England, in September 1850 to transport the first English settlers to new homes in Canterbury, New Zealand. The colonists or se ...

, the '' Cressy''. He was on the initial committee of the

Canterbury Association The Canterbury Association was formed in 1848 in England by members of parliament, peers, and Anglican church leaders, to establish a colony in New Zealand. The settlement was to be called Canterbury, with its capital to be known as Christchurch. ...

, with

Felix Wakefield Felix Wakefield (30 November 1807 – 23 December 1875) was an English colonist. Early life Felix Wakefield was born in 1807, the seventh child and sixth son of Edward Wakefield (1774–1854), a distinguished surveyor and land agent, and Susa ...

and others. He also took part in the Zoological Committee of the settlement, raising funds in London for the importation of native British species. A high opinion of his trustworthiness was held by

Jerningham Wakefield Edward Jerningham Wakefield (25 June 1820 – 3 March 1879), known as Jerningham Wakefield, was the only son of Edward Gibbon Wakefield. As such, he was closely associated with his father's interest in colonisation. He worked for the New Zealand ...

, who communicated it to

John Robert Godley John Robert Godley (29 May 1814 – 17 November 1861) was an Anglo-Irish statesman and bureaucrat. Godley is considered to be the founder of Canterbury, New Zealand, although he lived there for only two years. Early life Godley was born in Dubli ...

The Townsend family "formed one of the most popular and colourful groups in early

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

." In 1851 Townsend built a homestead, Ferrymead House, in what is now

Ferrymead Ferrymead is a suburb south-east of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is the main thoroughfare for reaching the eastern sea suburbs such as Sumner, as well as home to a number of cliff-top residences and businesses along the estuary front. After t ...

. It was described as "a fine house, with parallel twin gables, seven rooms,

totara ''Podocarpus totara'' (; from the Maori-language ; the spelling "totara" is also common in English) is a species of podocarp tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island and northeastern South Island in lowland, montane and ...

exterior walls lined with Tasmanian timber"; and went to the family of William Reeves. Townsend advertised his farm at Ferrymead for sale in 1853 but it did not sell. The Townsends moved in 1856 to

Rangiora Rangiora is the largest town and seat of the Waimakariri District, in Canterbury, New Zealand. It is north of Christchurch, and is part of the Christchurch metropolitan area. With an estimated population of Rangiora is the 30th largest urba ...

. In 1859 the Rangiora Cricket Club was formed. One team of the time was notable for having nine out of eleven players connected to the Townsend family. In 1860 Townsend put up his farm and its stock, at Southbrook, for public auction.

Family

Townsend married in 1820 Alicia Burges, daughter of Capt. Henry Burges of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

. According to a note to the ''Journal of Edward Ward'', the six daughters on the ''Cressy'' were aged in 1850 from 13 to 25. They were: * Alicia, third daughter, married 1851

Charles Torlesse Charles Obins Torlesse (2 May 1825 – 14 November 1866) was a prominent surveyor for the Canterbury Association in Canterbury, New Zealand. Biography Torlesse was born in Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk, England, in 1825. He was the eldest son of ...

Mary Townsend Mary Townsend may refer to: * Mary Townsend (entomologist) (1814–1851), American abolitionist and entomologist * Mary Townsend (artist) Mary Townsend (1822 – 31 December 1869) was an artist and an early English settler in Canterbury, New Zea ...

, married 1851 Dr William Donald * Frances, married 1855

William John Warburton Hamilton William John Warburton Hamilton (April 1825 – 6 December 1883), who generally signed as J. W. Hamilton, was an administrator, explorer, and politician in New Zealand. Early life Hamilton was born in 1825 at Little Chart, Kent, England. His fa ...

* Marcia, married 1857 Hamilton Ward * Margaret, married 1857

Crosbie Ward Crosbie Ward (10 February 1832 – 10 November 1867) was a 19th-century member of parliament in New Zealand. Early life Ward was born in Killinchy in County Down, Ireland, in 1832. His father was Rev. Henry Ward. His paternal grandfather was ...

* Priscilla, fourth daughter, married John Cowell Boys; he lived at Southbrook, worked as a surveyor, and married three times in all. The youngest son was Robert (1832–1886) of

Akaroa Akaroa is a small town on Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand, situated within a harbour of the same name. The name Akaroa is Kāi Tahu Māori for "Long Harbour", which would be spelled in standard ...

, who married Jane Dicken in 1865. One of the sons did not come to New Zealand; Margaret Ward met this brother in Panama in 1867 where he was an officer on the HMS ''Scout''. Townsend retired to Lyttelton and died there on 12 August 1866 at age 78. He was buried at Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery. His wife died at Lyttelton on 5 February 1872 at age 75.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, James 1790s births English cricketers English cricketers of 1787 to 1825 English cricketers of 1826 to 1863 Gentlemen cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers 1866 deaths People from Christchurch 19th-century English businesspeople