Life

Born at Ramsgate

Ramsgate

Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, he was the son of George Townsend, an Independent minister there and author of published sermons. He was educated at Ramsgate, and attracted the attention of Richard Cumberland

Richard Cumberland (dramatist)

Richard Cumberland was a British dramatist and civil servant. In 1771 his hit play The West Indian was first staged. During the American War of Independence he acted as a secret negotiator with Spain in an effort to secure a peace agreement between the two nations. He also edited a short-lived...

, with whose help he was able to go to Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

. He graduated B.A. in 1812 and M.A. in 1816, was ordained deacon in 1813 and priest in the year following, and in 1813 became curate of Littleport, Cambridgeshire

Littleport, Cambridgeshire

Littleport is the largest village in East Cambridgeshire, England, approximately north of Ely and south-east of Welney. It lies on the Bedford Level South section of the River Great Ouse, close to Burnt Fen and Mare Fen...

; he then moved to Hackney

Hackney (parish)

Hackney was a parish in the historic county of Middlesex. The parish church of St John-at-Hackney was built in 1789, replacing the nearby former 16th century parish church dedicated to St Augustine . The original tower of that church was retained to hold the bells until the new church could be...

 as curate to John James Watson.

In 1816 he was appointed professor at Sandhurst Military College, and at the same time undertook the curacy of Farnborough

Farnborough

Farnborough may refer to:* Farnborough, Berkshire, a small village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire* Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England...

, Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

. His work on the Old Testament

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

 was noticed by several eminent men, including Shute Barrington

Shute Barrington

Shute Barrington was an English churchman, Bishop of Llandaff in Wales, as well as Bishop of Salisbury and Bishop of Durham in England.-Life:...

, bishop of Durham, who appointed him his domestic chaplain in 1822. This was the period of great controversy over Catholic Emancipation

Catholic Emancipation

Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in Great Britain and Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century which involved reducing and removing many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and the penal laws...

, and Townsend wrote works for that debate. On 25 August 1825 he received the tenth prebendal stall in the see of Durham, which he retained until his death. He also obtained, on 26 April 1826 the chapter living of Northallerton

Northallerton

Northallerton is an affluent market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the northern end of the Vale of York. It has a population of 15,741 according to the 2001 census...

, which he exchanged on 22 February 1839 for the perpetual curacy of St Margaret, Durham.

In 1850 he undertook a journey to Italy with the intention of converting Pope Pius IX

Pope Pius IX

Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...

. He died at the college, Durham, on 23 November 1857.

Works

In 1811 appeared his first published work, a reply to Sir William Drummond, who in Œdipus Judaicus alleged that the greater part of the Old Testament was a solar allegory, and that the twelve patriarchs symbolised the signs of the zodiac. Townsend rejoined with Œdipus Romanus, in which by similar reasoning he showed that the signs of the zodiac were represented by the twelve Cæsars. In 1821 appeared the first part of his major work, The Old Testament arranged in historical and chronological order, London; 5th edit. 1860; the sequel was The New Testament arranged in historical and chronological order, London, 1826; 5th edit. 1860.

As contribution to the polemical literature of Catholic emancipation, at the request of Barrington, Townsend in 1825 published The Accusations of History against the Church of Rome; new edition 1845. The work was intended as a reply to Charles Butler's Historical Memoirs of the English, Scottish, and Irish Catholics since the Reformation, 1822.

In 1836 Townsend compiled a Life and Vindication of John Foxe

John Foxe

John Foxe was an English historian and martyrologist, the author of what is popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, , an account of Christian martyrs throughout Western history but emphasizing the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the fourteenth century through the...

 the martyrologist; it was prefixed to the first volume of the edition of the Acts and Monuments by Stephen Reed Cattley (8 vols. 1837–41). His Life and Defence of the Principles of Bishop Bonner (London, 1842) was ironical. On his return from Italy he published an account of his journey, under the title Journal of a Tour in Italy in 1850, with an Account of an Interview with the Pope in the Vatican, London, 1850.

Townsend wrote other works including:

• ‘Poems,’ London, 1810.
• ‘Armageddon, a Poem,’ London, 1816.
• ‘Thirty Sermons on some of the most interesting Subjects in Theology,’ London, 1830.
• ‘Plan for abolishing Pluralities and Non-residence,’ London, 1833.
• ‘Spiritual Communion with God; or the Pentateuch and the Book of Job arranged,’ 2 vols. London, 1845–9.
• ‘Historical Researches: Ecclesiastical and Civil History from the Ascension of our Lord to the Death of Wycliffe, philosophically considered with reference to a future Reunion of Christians,’ London, 1847.
• ‘Twenty-seven Sermons on Miscellaneous Subjects,’ London, 1849.

Townsend also wrote a series of sonnet

Sonnet

A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...

s to accompany Thomas Stothard

Thomas Stothard

Thomas Stothard was an English painter, illustrator and engraver.-Life and work:Stothard was born in London, the son of a well-to-do innkeeper in Long Acre, London. A delicate child, he was sent at the age of five to a relative in Yorkshire, and attended school at Acomb, and afterwards at...

's illustrations of the Pilgrim's Progress; and edited in 1828 the ‘Theological Works’ of John Shute Barrington, 1st Viscount Barrington

John Shute Barrington, 1st Viscount Barrington

John Shute Barrington, 1st Viscount Barrington was an English lawyer and theologian-Background and education:Born at Theobalds House, near Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, he was the son of the merchant, Benjamin Shute...

.

Family

He was twice married, and by his first wife left a son, George Fyler Townsend, who was later perpetual curate of St Michael's, Burleigh Street, Westminster.