Sir Simon Peter Edmund Cosmo William Towneley ( Koch de Gooreynd; 14 December 1921 – 11 November 2022) was a British author who served as

Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire. The Lord Lieutenant is the King's personal representative in each county of the United Kingdom. Historically the Lord Lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's ...

from 1976 to 1997.

Early life and education

Towneley was born in

St George Hanover Square St George Hanover Square was a civil parish created in 1724 in the Liberty of Westminster, Middlesex, which was later part of the metropolitan area of London, England. The creation of the parish accompanied the building of St George's, Hanove ...

, London, on 14 December 1921, as the elder son of a British father of Belgian stock, Alexander Louis Wynand Koch de Gooreynd, and a British-Belgian mother,

Priscilla Reyntiens Priscilla Cecilia Maria Reyntiens, The Lady Norman, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Justice of the Peace, JP (20 March 1899 – 5 April 1991) was a London councillor, board member, and supporter of mental health and nursing institutions. Her f ...

. His mother was the daughter of Lady Alice Josephine, second daughter of

Montagu Bertie, 7th Earl of Abingdon Montagu Arthur Bertie, 7th Earl of Abingdon (13 May 1836 – 10 March 1928) was an English peer. Early life Montagu Arthur Bertie was born on 13 May 1836 at Hanover Square, Mayfair. He was the eldest of nine children born to Montagu Bertie, 6 ...

, and Maj. , a member of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

. The family name was changed to Worsthorne and he later changed it to Towneley Worsthorne and finally Towneley by deed poll, on 28 May 1955. His younger brother was Sir Peregrine Worsthorne, the journalist. The brothers were brought up as Roman Catholics, but did not attend denominational schools. He was educated at

Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster ...

and

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

Career

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Worsthorne served in the

King's Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United St ...

, receiving a commission as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in December 1942. In 1954 (under the name Simon Towneley Worsthorne) he published ''Venetian Opera in the 17th Century'', a seminal study of the field, which played a significant role in the remarkable revival of the Venetian opera repertory in the latter 20th century.

Honours

Towneley was appointed

High Sheriff of Lancashire The High Sheriff of Lancashire is an ancient officer, now largely ceremonial, granted to Lancashire, a county in North West England. High Shrievalties are the oldest secular titles under the Crown, in England and Wales. The High Sheriff of Lanca ...

for 1971 and

from 1976 to 1996. Towneley was appointed a Knight Commander of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...

in the

1994 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1994 were appointments by most of the sixteen Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other c ...

Personal life and death

Towneley married his second cousin Mary Fitzherbert, the third of six children of Cuthbert Fitzherbert, from a well-off recusant English Roman Catholic family. She was a keen endurance equestrian, repeating

Dick Turpin Richard Turpin (bapt. 21 September 1705 – 7 April 1739) was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's trade as a butcher ear ...

's ride from London to York and opening up what became known as the

Mary Towneley Loop The Mary Towneley Loop is a circular route that forms part of the Pennine Bridleway National Trail, along the borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire. The loop was opened in 2002, the first section of the Pennine Bridleway. It is named in memory ...

on the

Pennine Bridleway The Pennine Bridleway is a National Trail in Northern England. It runs roughly parallel with the Pennine Way but provides access for horse riders and cyclists as well as walkers. The trail is around long, extending from Derbyshire to Cumbria. ...

. Lady Towneley died in 2001 from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, at the age of 65. The couple had seven children; one son and six daughters including the author K. M. Grant. Towneley died on 11 November 2022, at the age of 100 at his home in Cliviger.

Footnotes

References

Koch de Gooreynd , William Julien Maurice (1853–1919), first published Sept 2004, 940 words (subscription required)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Towneley, Simon 1921 births 2022 deaths People educated at Stowe School Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford Bertie family English people of Belgian descent English people of Dutch descent Schuyler family English Roman Catholics Lord-Lieutenants of Lancashire High Sheriffs of Lancashire Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order British Army personnel of World War II King's Royal Rifle Corps officers English justices of the peace English centenarians Men centenarians