Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, (; 18 April 1674 – 21 June 1738) was a British Whig statesman. From 1714 to 1717, and again from 1721 to 1730, he served as Secretary of State for the Northern Department. He directed British foreign policy in close collaboration with his brother-in-law, prime minister Robert Walpole. He was often known as Turnip Townshend because of his strong interest in farming field turnips and his role in the British Agricultural Revolution.
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Early life
Townshend was the eldest son of Sir Horatio Townshend, 3rd Baronet, who was created Baron Townshend in 1661 and Viscount Townshend in 1682. The old Norfolk family of Townshend, to which he belonged, is descended from Sir Roger Townshend (d. 1493) of Raynham, who acted as legal advisor to the Paston family, and was made a justice of the common pleas in 1484. His descendant, another Sir Roger Townshend (c. 1543–1590), had a son Sir John Townshend (1564–1603), a soldier, whose son, Sir Roger Townshend (1588– 1637), was created a baronet in 1617. He was the father of Sir Horatio Townshend.
Born at Raynham Hall, Norfolk, Townshend succeeded to the peerages in December 1687, and was educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge. He had Tory sympathies when he took his seat in the House of Lords, but his views changed, and he began to take an active part in politics as a Whig. For a few years after the accession of Queen Anne he remained without office, but in November 1708 he was appointed Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, having in the previous year been summoned to the Privy Council. He was ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Dutch States-General from 1709 to 1711, taking part during these years in the negotiations which preceded the conclusion of the Treaty of Utrecht.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in April 1706.
Secretary of State and other posts
After his recall to England, he was busily occupied in attacking the proceedings of the new Tory ministry. Townshend quickly won the favour of George I, and in September 1714, the new king selected him as Secretary of State for the Northern Department. The policy of Townshend and his colleagues, after they had suppressed the Jacobite rising of 1715, both at home and abroad, was one of peace. Townshend was opposed to British involvement in the Great Northern War, and he promoted the conclusion of defensive alliances between Britain, Austria and France.
In spite of these successes, the influence of the Whigs was gradually undermined by the intrigues of Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, and by the discontent of the Hanoverian favourites. In October 1716, Townshend's colleague, James Stanhope afterwards 1st Earl Stanhope, accompanied the king on his visit to Hanover, and while there he was seduced from his allegiance to his fellow ministers by Sunderland, George being led to believe that Townshend and his brother-in-law, Sir Robert Walpole, were caballing with the Prince of Wales, their intention being that the prince should supplant his father on the throne. Consequently, in December 1716 Townshend was dismissed from office and made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, but he only retained this post until the following April. When he was dismissed for voting against the government, he was joined by his brother-in-law Robert Walpole and other Whig Allies. This began the Whig Split which would divide the dominant party until 1720, with the opposition Whigs joining with the Tories to defeat Stanhope's government over several issues including the Peerage Bill of 1719.
Early in 1720 a partial reconciliation took place between the parties of Stanhope and Townshend, and in June of this year the latter became Lord President of the Council, a post which he held until February 1721, when, after the death of Stanhope and the forced retirement of Sunderland, a result of the South Sea Bubble, he was again appointed Secretary of State for the northern department, with Walpole as First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. The two remained in power during the remainder of the reign of George I the chief domestic events of the time being the impeachment of Bishop Atterbury, the pardon and partial restoration of Lord Bolingbroke, and the troubles in Ireland caused by the patent permitting Wood to coin halfpence.
During his tenure as Secretary of State for the Northern Department, Anglo-Dutch relations improved. During the War of the Spanish Succession, the Tory Harley ministry had concluded a separate peace treaty with France without consulting their Dutch allies, causing considerable anger. The Dutch States General saw the Whig Townshend ministry, including Townshend himself, as better diplomatic partners, and the Dutch sent several thousand troops to Britain to assist in the suppression of the Jacobite rising of 1715. Townshend had previously served as Britain's ambassador to the Dutch Republic, and was described by one British commentator as someone whose "predominant passion was love of the Dutch".
"Turnip" Townshend
His remaining years were passed at Raynham, where he interested himself in agriculture. He promoted the adoption of the Norfolk four-course system, involving the rotation of turnips, barley, clover, and wheat crops. He was an enthusiastic advocate of growing turnips as a field crop for livestock feed. As a result of his promotion of turnip-growing and his agricultural experiments at Raynham, he became known as "Turnip Townshend". (Alexander Pope mentions "Townshend's turnips" in Imitations of Horace, Epistle II.) Townshend is often mentioned, together with Jethro Tull, Robert Bakewell, and others, as a major figure in England's "Agricultural Revolution", contributing to the adoption of agricultural practices that led to the increase in Britain's population between 1700 and 1850.
He died at Raynham on 21 June 1738.
Family
Townshend was twice married—first to the Hon. Elizabeth Pelham (1681–1711), daughter of Thomas Pelham, 1st Baron Pelham of Laughton and his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Jones of Ramsbury Manor, Attorney General for England and Wales.
Children with the Hon. Elizabeth Pelham:
Charles Townshend, 3rd Viscount Townshend of Raynham b. 11 July 1700, d. 12 March 1764
Hon. Thomas Townshend b. 2 June 1701, d. 21 May 1780
Hon. William Townshend b. 9 June 1702, d. 29 January 1738
Hon. Elizabeth Townshend (bap. 28 July 1703-1 December 1785) married Charles Cornwallis, 1st Earl Cornwallis on 28 November 1722. They were the parents of General Cornwallis, who commanded the British forces in the American Revolution.
Hon Roger Townshend bap. 16 April 1705, bur. 3 February 1706
Hon. Roger Townshend b. 15 June 1708, d. 7 August 1760
Henry Townshend (bap. 5 June 1709- )
Secondly, he married (6 July 1713) Dorothy Walpole (1686–1726), sister of Sir Robert Walpole. She is said to haunt Raynham as the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall.
Children with Dorothy Walpole:
Hon. Dorothy Townshend b. 5 May 1714, married Spencer Cowper (priest) in 1743, d. 19 May 1779
Hon. George Townshend b. 29 October 1715 d. Aug 1769
Hon. Augustus Townshend b. 5 October 1716 d. 1746.