John Towneley (16 February 1806 – 21 February 1878) was an English Whig politician. He was elected at the 1841 general election as a

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 o ...

(MP) for

Beverley Beverley is a market and minster town and a civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre and north-west of City of Hull. The town is known fo ...

, and held the seat until he did not stand at the 1852 general election.

Personal life

A son of

Peregrine Edward Towneley The Towneley or Townley family are an English (UK) family whose ancestry can be traced back to Anglo-Saxon England. Towneley Hall in Burnley, Lancashire, was the family seat until its sale, together with the surrounding park, to the corporati ...

Towneley Hall Towneley Park is owned and managed by Burnley Borough Council and is the largest and most popular park in Burnley, Lancashire, England. The main entrance to the park is within a mile of the town centre and the park extends to the south east, cov ...

and Charlotte Drummond. He married Lucy Tichborne, the daughter of Henry Joseph Tichborne, (the 8th Baronet) and Anne Burke on 28 October 1840. They had five children, including Mabel, who married Lewis Henry Hugh Clifford, 9th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, and Mary, who became a nun and Provincial of the English Province of Notre Dame Nuns. Their only son, Richard, died unmarried in 1877. When his brother Colonel Charles Towneley, raised the new 5th Royal Lancashire Militia in 1853, John was commissioned as one of the Majors. When Charles retired from the command in 1863, John was promoted to

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

to succeed him. He also succeeded Charles as Honorary Colonel of the regiment on Charles's death in 1876. John also inherited the Towneley estates, including the

Lordship of Bowland The Lordship of Bowland is a feudal barony associated with the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, England. The lordship fell into disuse between 1885 and 2008, during which time it was widely believed to have lapsed; it was revived in 2008. In 1 ...

, in 1876. As John's only son Richard died before he did, it became necessary to divide the estate between the seven daughters of the two men, requiring a

private Act of Parliament Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single p ...

.'Tracing the Towneleys' 2004 edn at Towneley Hall Society.
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References

1806 births 1878 deaths Whig (British political party) MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1841–1847 UK MPs 1847–1852 Lancashire Militia officers {{England-UK-MP-stub