William Charles Townsend (1803–1850) was an English

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

, known as a historical and legal writer.

Life

He was the second son of William Townsend of Walton, Lancashire, and matriculated at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its pred ...

, on 4 July 1820, graduating B.A. in 1824 and M.A. in 1827. On 25 November 1828 he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

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 ...

. Townsend first attached himself to the northern circuit, and then practised at the Cheshire and Manchester assizes. Later he obtained a practice on the North Wales circuit. In 1833 he was elected

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Macclesfield Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...

. In March 1850 he was appointed a

queen's counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

, and in the same year became a bencher of Lincoln's Inn. He died shortly, on 8 May at Burntwood Lodge,

Wandsworth Common Wandsworth Common is a public common in Wandsworth, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, south London. It is and is maintained and regulated by Wandsworth Council. It is also a Ward of the London Borough of Wandsworth. The population of the ward ...

, the house of his elder brother Richard Lateward Townsend, vicar of All Saints',

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

, Surrey. He was buried in the vaults of Lincoln's Inn.

Works

Townsend wrote: * ''The Pæan of Orford, a poem'', London, 1826. * ''The History and Memoirs of the House of Commons'', London, 1843–4. * ''The Lives of Twelve Eminent Judges of the Last and of the Present Century'', London, 1846. * ''Modern State Trials revised and illustrated'', London, 1850. He also contributed poems to Henry Fisher's ''Imperial Magazine'', around 1820.

Family

In 1834 Townsend married Frances, second daughter of Richard Wood of Macclesfield, who survived him; he died without issue.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, William Charles 1803 births 1850 deaths English barristers English writers Writers from Liverpool 19th-century English lawyers People from Walton, Liverpool