Lieutenant-Colonel H. Stuart Townend OBE MA (24 April 1909 – 26 October 2002) was a British military officer, athlete, headmaster, and politician. Townend was the first headmaster to educate an heir to the British throne, having founded Hill House School in 1951.

Early life

Born at Shrawardine,

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

, the son of a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

clergyman, the Rev. F. W. Townend, later of Tilney St Lawrence, Townend was educated at St Edmund's School, Canterbury,

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The l ...

and the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Sporting career

Townend went up to Oxford in 1928, where he became president of the Oxford University Athletic Club and winner of six Oxford University blues. In 1930 he won a gold medal at the British Empire Games in Hamilton, Ontario, in the 4x440 yard relay. Townend finished second behind Tommy Hampson in the 880 yards event at the 1931 AAA Championships.

Professional career

After university, Townend joined the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in 1931. He was commissioned in 1933 and held the appointment of Assistant Quartermaster general during the war. He served in north-west Europe and India. He attained the appointment of Assistant Adjutant-General, World Wide Air Movements at the War Office. He retired from the army in 1947 to become housing chairman of the London Olympics, organising the accommodation at short notice for the athletes and officials attending the event to be held the following year. There was no time or money to build athletes’ villages, and 3500 of the athletes and sportsmen were put in three camps in Richmond Park, Uxbridge and High Wycombe. The remainder and all the officials were put up in 41 schools and colleges across London. As a reward for his efforts, he was given an OBE in 1949. He was director-general of the Hotels and Restaurants Association. He was a director of an international publishing company and of an international school in Switzerland and a director and founder of the Anglo-Swiss Society of Great Britain. He founded Hill House School, in

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

, London in 1951 with his wife. In 1956

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attended the school as pupil. It was the first time an heir to the British throne had been sent to school, as opposed to being educated by private tutors. Townend championed a "stripped down to basics" approach to independent education that enabled him to keep his fees among the lowest in the country. He continued to run the school until his death in 2002 aged 93. At that time it was reportedly the world's largest private junior school with over 1100 pupils.

Political career

He was for 10 years a member of Paddington Borough Council. He was the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

candidate for the

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...

division of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

at the 1950 General Election, and subsequently for the Falmouth and Camborne division of

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

at the 1951 General Election. He did not stand for parliament again.British parliamentary election results 1950–1973, Craig, F.W.S. He later left the Liberal Party and joined the Conservatives. In 1958 he was elected to the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

as a member for Chelsea. He served two terms before standing down in 1965.

References

External links