Sir Roger Townshend (1477 – 10 May 1552) was an English landowner, knight and politician.

Life

He was born in

Raynham, Norfolk Raynham is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, consisting of the villages of South, East and West Raynham. It covers an area of and had a population of 257 in 113 households at the 2001 census, increasing to 330 at the Census 2 ...

, as the son of Sir Roger Townshend and Eleanor Lumford of Raynham, and studied at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

. Instead of following in his father's footsteps as a judge, he devoted himself to his lands and to local affairs. He was appointed

High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk This is a list of Sheriffs of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Sheriff (since 1974 called High Sheriff) is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually by the Crown. He was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the c ...

for 1511 and 1518 and elected

Knight of the Shire Knight of the shire ( la, milites comitatus) was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistributio ...

for Norfolk in 1529 and 1542. He was knighted in 1518.

Family

He had married Anne (or Amy) Brewes, daughter and co-heiress of William de Brewse, of

Wenham Hall Wenham can refer to: Locality *Wenham, Massachusetts, town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States ** Wenham Historic District, historic district in Wenham, Massachusetts ** Hamilton/Wenham (MBTA station), Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, and Stinton Hall in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, by whom he had six sons and two daughters: *Sir John Townshend (died 1543/4) of Raynham, who married Eleanor Heydon, the daughter of the courtier Sir John Heydon (died 1551) of

Baconsthorpe Castle Baconsthorpe Castle, historically known as Baconsthorpe Hall, is a ruined, fortified manor house near the village of Baconsthorpe, Norfolk, England. It was established in the 15th century on the site of a former manor hall, probably by John He ...

, Norfolk by his wife, Catherine Willoughby (died 1542), the daughter of Sir Christopher Willoughby. John Townshend predeceased his father, leaving five sons and two daughters, including an eldest son, Richard Townshend (died 1551), who married Katherine Browne, the daughter of Sir Humphrey Browne.; . * Sir Robert Townshend (died 3 February 1557), who was

Justice of Chester The Justice of Chester was the chief judicial authority for the county palatine of Chester, from the establishment of the county until the abolition of the Great Sessions in Wales and the palatine judicature in 1830. Within the County Palatine (w ...

, and married Alice Poppey, daughter and sole heir of Robert Poppey, esquire, of

Brampton, Suffolk Brampton is a village and former civil parish in the English county of Suffolk, around north-east of Halesworth, south of Beccles and north-west of Southwold. In 1961 the parish had a population of 306. In 1987 the parish was merged with Sto ...

.. *Sir George Townshend. *Sir Roger Townshend. *Sir Thomas Townshend of Tiverton. *Sir Giles Townshend (died 1552). *Susan Townshend, who married Sir Edmund Wyndham. *Katherine Townshend, who married Sir Henry Bedingfield. He died on 10 May 1552 at Raynham. He was succeeded by his great-grandson, Sir Roger Townshend (died 1590), who served

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, (Kenninghall, Norfolk, 10 March 1536Tower Hill, London, 2 June 1572) was an English nobleman and politician. Although from a family with strong Roman Catholic leanings, he was raised a Protestant. He was a ...

as his man of business.

Notes

Ancestry

References

* * * *
History of Parliament TOWNSHEND, Sir Roger (by 1478–1551) of Raynham, Norf.
* 1477 births 1551 deaths

Roger Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...

Members of Lincoln's Inn Serjeants-at-law (England) 15th-century English people High Sheriffs of Norfolk High Sheriffs of Suffolk English MPs 1529–1536 English MPs 1536 English MPs 1542–1544 16th-century English lawyers People from Breckland District People from Raynham, Norfolk Members of Parliament for Norfolk {{1529-England-MP-stub