| Description | CR1071 - Deeds relating to the estate at Long Lawford, 17th century, 19th century, and papers including the diary of William Townsend, 1805-1808.
CR3767 - Deeds of property in Wolston purchased by John Worth in the mid 19th century, 1657-1880.
CR4651 - Family papers including deeds, mortgages, maps, photographs and inventories, c.1590-1980s.
See paper catalogue for accession CR1071. |
| AdminHistory | The Townsend family were based around Kings Newnham [Newnham Regis], Long Lawford and Church Lawford in Warwickshire for many years. By the late nineteenth century the family held a considerable amount of land in the area.
Henry Townsend (1808-1864) married Ann Worth (d.1893) in September 1836. Ann's parents were George Worth, Gentleman, of Kings Newnham (d.1864) and Ann Brierly (c.1785-1871), who were married at Church Lawford in 1807. Ann was 'the last survivor of the [Worth] family, and heiress to considerable landed property in the parish' [CR4651/637]. Henry and Ann had eleven children, eight of whom survived childhood: Frances Ann (1837-1893); Charlotte (1838-1888); Elizabeth Worth (1840-1919); William Henry Worth (1842-1901); Susan Worth (1843-1920s); John Hands (1848-1915); Alice Worth (1851-1924); and Julia Worth (1853-1940).
In 1870, their eldest son William Henry Worth Townsend married Mary Healy (1845-1928), the daughter of Charles Healy (d.1882) of Stamford. They had three children: Henry William Worth (1871-1911); Mary Bertha (1873-1966), known as Bertha; and Maude Greville (1875-1953). By the 1880s, the family were living in the Manor House at Kings Newnham. William Henry Worth Townsend held many prominent local positions including that of churchwarden, Chairman of the Rugby Board of Guardians and Rural District Council, as well as being a J.P. and Alderman [CR4651/637].
Henry William Worth Townsend was educated at Rugby and Clare College, Cambridge. In 1897, he was appointed as a surgeon in the Royal Navy and travelled extensively with his work on H.M.S. Blenheim and H.M.S. Jupiter: by 1903, he had been posted to Ireland, China, Hong-Kong and Japan. He married Violet North (1875-1971) in 1909. However, the marriage was short lived as Henry died in July 1911 at the age of 40. Bertha and Maude never married and they moved with their mother to Church Walk in Rugby after the death of their father in 1901 (Henry William Worth being abroad at the time). Both sisters served with the VAD (signing up before the outbreak of the First World War). Bertha was also a secretary of the Rugby Nursing Association (1919-1944) and a trustee of the Reading Room at Church Lawford.
Henry and Ann's second surviving son, Rev. John Hands Townsend, became vicar of Oatlands Park, Weybridge in Surrey. He married Adeline Costeker and they had eight daughters, six of whom survived to adulthood: Annie Sara Costeker (b.1877); Mary Costeker (b.1878); Ruth Catherine (b.1881); Joan Adeline (b.c.1884); Hester Worth (1886-1980); and Marjory Bruce (1888-1984). Hester Worth was the only daughter to marry. She married Harry Olivier Sumner Gibson and had two children: John Sumnor Townsend (b.1915), who emigrated to British Columbia in 1947, and Helen Olivier Gibson (b.1917). However, Harry Gibson died in Gaza in April 1917, only a fortnight after the birth of his daughter. In 1919, Adeline (by now a widow) and her unmarried daughters moved to Petersfield in Hampshire. |