George Townshend, 3rd Marquess Townshend

George Ferrars Townshend, 3rd Marquess Townshend (13 December 1778 – 31 December 1855), known as Lord Ferrers of Chartley from 1782 to 1807 and as Earl of Leicester from 1807 to 1811, was a British peer.

The Most Honourable

The Marquess Townshend
Born
George Ferrars Townshend

13 December 1778
Died31 December 1855(1855-12-31) (aged 77)
Genoa, Kingdom of Sardinia
Spouse(s)
Sarah Dunn Gardner
(
m. 1807)
Parent(s)George Townshend, 2nd Marquess Townshend
Charlotte Ellerker

Biography

Townshend was the elder son of George Townshend, 16th Baron Ferrers of Chartley and 8th Baron Compton, by his wife Charlotte Ellerker. His father was the eldest son of George Townshend, 4th Viscount Townshend (he had inherited his two baronies from his mother in 1770) and was created Earl of Leicester in 1784, at which point Townshend adopted the courtesy title Lord Ferrers of Chartley. His grandfather was created Marquess Townshend in 1787, and his father inherited this title in 1807, at which point Townshend adopted the courtesy title Earl of Leicester. He succeeded his father as 3rd Marquess Townshend in 1811.

Townshend was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.[1]

Marriage and scandal

In 1807, Leicester (as he was then known) married Sarah, daughter and heiress of William Dunn Gardner. They had no children and Sarah left him only a year later, after accusing him both of being impotent and of having homosexual relations with his Italian secretary.[2] She sued for annulment in the ecclesiastical courts, but very shortly afterwards, she eloped with another man. Thus, the marriage was never dissolved although she committed adultery by entering into a bigamous marriage. Following this scandal, Leicester was disinherited by his father for bringing disgrace to the family (although this act could not affect the descent of peerages, and he remained the heir to his father's title and retained his own courtesy title), and lived mainly abroad thereafter.

In 1809, shortly after abandoning her husband, Sarah went through a (legally invalid) ceremony of marriage with John Margetts, a brewer from St. Ives. The ceremony was held at Gretna Green. They had several children who bore their biological father's name until 1823. In that year, Sarah conveniently decided that the children should bear the surname of her legal husband, which they proceeded to do. The strictly legal position was that since Sarah's marriage had never been annulled, any children she bore would be deemed the progeny of her husband and ipso facto eligible to succeed him in his estates and titles. With this in mind, the eldest son John (20 July 1811 – 11 January 1903) was baptised with the surname Townshend and assumed the courtesy title of "Earl of Leicester". He was later to represent Bodmin in the House of Commons.

Alarmed at the pretensions of Sarah and her children, Townshend's younger brother Lord Charles Townshend (who would inherit if Townshend had no legitimate sons) petitioned in May 1842 to have Sarah's children delegitimated. Townshend supported the petition, and all the children were duly declared illegitimate by Act of Parliament in 1842.[3] Sarah died on 11 September 1858.[4] In 1843, after the Act of Parliament declaring him illegitimate was passed, the eldest son assumed his mother's maiden surname of Dunn Gardner.

Later years

Townshend died in Genoa in December 1855, aged 77. His only brother Charles, the petitioner in the legitimacy case, had predeceased him and left no sons either. Therefore, the Earldom of Leicester became extinct, while the baronies of Ferrers of Chartley and Compton fell into abeyance between his nephew (his middle sister's son) and his youngest sister; it has remained in abeyance. He was succeeded in the Marquessate of Townshend by his first cousin, John Townshend.

Titles and styles
  • The Hon George Townshend (13 December 1778 – 1784)
  • Lord Ferrers of Chartley (1784 – 14 September 1807)
  • Earl of Leicester (14 September 1807 – 27 July 1811)
  • The Most Hon The Marquess Townshend (27 July 1811 – 31 December 1855)

Notes
  1. "Ferrars, Lord George (FRRS798G)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. Bryant, Chris (5 November 2015). Parliament - the Biography: Reform. ISBN 9780552779968.
  3. Francois Velde (2007) "Genetically Challenged" Queen message from alt.talk.royalty, posted 30 May 2007. The message says in part:
    "The Townshend peerage case was one where marquis Townshend (then called Lord Chartley) married Sarah Dunn Gardner in 1807; a year later she left her husband, sued in Ecclesiastical court to have the marriage annulled because of his impotence but dropped the suit and eloped with a brewer of St. Ives. Their children initially bore the brewer's name (Margetts) but from 1823 took the name Townshend, and one took the style of Earl of Leicester. The marquis took no steps to dissolve the marriage, and his brother had no means to dispute the legitimacy of the so-called Earl of Leicester, because no property depended on the title. As time went by and witnesses died off, it seemed the imposture might not be preventable. So the brother and heir presumptive petitioned the house of Lords for inquiry respecting the descent of these honours in May 1842. The next year the marquis himself also petitioned the House.
    Ultimately a private bill was brought "to declare the illegitimacy of certain persons alleged or claiming to be children of the Most Honourable George Ferrars, Marquis Townshend". There was much debate (how could you bastardize the children of a valid and continuing marriage? Was the royal prerogative not infringed? What about ordinary courts?). In the end the bill received royal assent on July 12, 1843 entitled "An Act to declare that certain persons therein mentioned are not children of the Most Honourable George Ferrars, Marquis Townshend" (6 & 7 Vict c. 35) and declaring that "the said several children of the said Sarah Gardner, Marchioness Townshend, hereinbefore respectively mentioned, are not nor were, nor shall they or any of them, be taken to be or be deemed the lawful issue of the said George Ferrars Marquis Townshend" (According to Francois Velde, one child, being a minor and having no legal guardian, was exempted from the act's provisions). (Based on Frederick Clifford, A History of Private Bill Legislation, 1885, vol. 1 p. 443–450)."
  4. Ibid.

References
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by
George Townshend		 Marquess Townshend
1811 – 1855		 Succeeded by
John Townshend
Earl of Leicester
6th creation
1811 – 1855		 Extinct
Peerage of England
Preceded by
George Townshend		 Baron Ferrers of Chartley
Baron Compton
1811 – 1855		 In abeyance
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