The Honourable

The Honourable

The prefix The Honourable or The Honorable is a style used before the names of certain classes of persons. It is considered an honorific styling.-International diplomacy:...

 Thomas Townshend (2 June 1701 – 21 May 1780) was a long-standing British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

.

Townshend was the second son of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend

Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend

Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend Bt, KG, PC was a British Whig statesman. He served for a decade as Secretary of State, directing British foreign policy...

, from his first marriage to the Hon. Elizabeth Pelham. Charles Townshend, 3rd Viscount Townshend

Charles Townshend, 3rd Viscount Townshend

Charles Townshend, 3rd Viscount Townshend , known as Lord Lynn from 1723 to 1738, was a British politician....

, William Townshend

William Townshend (MP)

The Honourable William Townshend was a British Member of Parliament.Townshend was the third son of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, and his first wife the Hon. Elizabeth Pelham...

 and Roger Townshend

Roger Townshend (MP)

The Honourable Roger Townshend was a British soldier and Member of Parliament.Townshend was the youngest son of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, from his first marriage to the Hon. Elizabeth Pelham...

 were his brothers while George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend

George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend

Field Marshal George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, PC , known as The Viscount Townshend from 1764 to 1787, was a British soldier who reached the rank of field marshal.-Early life:...

, Charles Townshend

Charles Townshend

Charles Townshend was a British politician. He was born at his family's seat of Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England, the second son of Charles Townshend, 3rd Viscount Townshend, and Audrey , daughter and heiress of Edward Harrison of Ball's Park, near Hertford, a lady who rivalled her son in...

 and Charles Townshend, 1st Baron Bayning

Charles Townshend, 1st Baron Bayning

Charles Townshend, 1st Baron Bayning PC was a British politician.-Background and education:Bayning was the only son of the Hon. William Townshend, third son of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend. George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, Charles Townshend and Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount...

, his nephews. He was educated at Eton

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

, and King's College, Cambridge

King's College, Cambridge

King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....

.

Townshend sat in the British House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 for Winchelsea

Winchelsea (UK Parliament constituency)

Winchelsea was a parliamentary constituency in Sussex, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1366 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-Boundaries:...

 between 1722 and 1727. In the elections of 1727

British general election, 1727

The British general election, 1727 returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Great Britain to be held, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election was triggered by the death of George I; at the time elections...

, he stood contemporaneously for Hastings

Hastings (UK Parliament constituency)

Hastings was a parliamentary constituency in Sussex. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until the 1885 general election, when its representation was reduced to one member....

 and Cambridge University

Cambridge University (UK Parliament constituency)

Cambridge University was a university constituency electing two members to the British House of Commons, from 1603 to 1950.-Boundaries, Electorate and Election Systems:...

. He had success in both constituencies and chose to represent Cambridge, a seat he held until 1774. Townshend was also for some years private secretary to his father as well as a Teller of the Exchequer between 1727 and 1780.

Townshend married Albinia, daughter of John Selwyn, in 1730. Their son Thomas

Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney

Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney PC , was a British politician who held several important Cabinet posts in the second half of the 18th century...

 became a prominent politician and was created Viscount Sydney

Earl Sydney

Earl Sydney, of Scadbury in the County of Kent, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1874 for the Liberal politician John Townshend, 3rd Viscount Sydney. He notably served as Lord Chamberlain of the Household and as Lord Steward of the Household. On his death in 1890...

in 1789. Albinia died in 1739. Townshend survived her by over 40 years and died in May 1780, aged 78.