Name George 3rd Died December 31, 1855 | Siblings Lord Charles Townshend | |
Parents George Townshend, 2nd Marquess Townshend Cousins Charles Fox Townshend, John Townshend, 4th Marquess Townshend Grandparents Charlotte Townshend, Viscountess Townshend, George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend Uncles Lord John Townshend, Lord Charles 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 1855, was a British peer.
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Townshend was the eldest son of George Townshend, 2nd Marquess Townshend, and Charlotte Ellerker. His father was created Earl of Leicester in 1782, at which time he received the courtesy title of Lord Ferrers of Chartley. When his father succeeded to the marquessate in 1807, he gained the courtesy title of Earl of Leicester. Lord Leicester married Sarah, daughter and heiress of William Dunn Gardner, in 1807. They had no children and Sarah left him after only a year after accusing him of having sexual intercourse with his Italian Secretary. (The marriage was never dissolved although she committed adultery in a bigamous marriage). Lord Townshend, as he became after his father's death in 1811, was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was disinherited by his father and lived mainly abroad. Townshend died in Genoa in December 1855, aged 77. The earldom of Leicester became extinct on his death while the baronies of Ferrers of Chartley and Compton fell into abeyance between his nephew and his younger sister. He was succeeded in the marquessate by his first cousin John Townshend.
Sarah, Lady Townshend
Sarah, Lady Townshend, went through a marriage ceremony with a brewer, John Margetts, at Gretna Green in 1809. They had several children who bore their father's name until 1823, then the Townshend name, and were all declared illegitimate by Act of Parliament in 1842. (According to Francois Velde, one child, being a minor and having no legal guardian, was exempted from the act's provisions). Their eldest son John (20 July 1811 – 11 January 1903) was baptised with the surname Townshend and assumed the title of "Earl of Leicester". He later represented Bodmin in the House of Commons. In 1843 (after the Act of Parliament declaring him illegitimate was passed) he assumed his mother's surname of Dunn Gardner. Sarah, Lady Townshend, died on 11 September 1858.