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.
Eton College; Trinity College.
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. (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.
, 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 Acting 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 Acting of Parliament declaring him illegitimate was passed) he assumed his mother"s surname of Dunn Gardner.
, died on 11 September 1858.
The Honorary 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 Honorary The Marquess Townshend (27 July 1811 – 31 December 1855).
