Lieutenant-General Samuel Townsend


Samuel Townsend was born in 1733. From the age of 15 he was educated at Trinity College Dublin. He was first commissioned into Drogheda’s Light Horse which was numbered 19th but later became the 18th Light Dragoons, and raised a Troop. In 1760 he transferred to the 19th Foot and saw action at Belle Isle in 1761 as a Grenadier captain. He was promoted major in 1763 and was posted to Gibraltar where this portrait was painted. He reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel and was given command of the 34th Foot which was serving in Ireland. In 1776 he was on half pay but on 24 Jan 1778 he was appointed Inspector General and Superintendent of the Recruiting of all the Forces employed on Foreign Service. He relinquished this post in 1786 by which time he was a major-general (1782). He was further promoted to lieutenant-general in 1793. He lived at 23 Wimpole Street, London with his wife Elizabeth Aikenhead. They had two children, also called Samuel and Elizabeth. Lieutenant-General Townsend died on 17 May 1794. His wife died in 1801.


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by Stephen Luscombe