George Fyler Townsend

George Fyler Townsend (1814–1900) was the British translator of the standard English edition of Aesop's Fables. He was the son of George Townsend and was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge -DCL 1876. He was Vicar of Barntingham, Yorks 1842-1857, of Leominster 1857-1862 and of St Michael's, Burleigh Street, Westminster 1862-1894. He was the last Clerical proctor for granting Marriage Licences in Doctors Commons and assumed the name "Townesend" in 1882. Although there are more modern collections and translations, Townsend's volume of 350 fables introduced the practice of stating a succinct moral at the conclusion of each story, and continues to be influential. Several editions were published in his lifetime, and others since. In 1860, Townsend also published a revised edition of The Arabian Nights, "mostly founded on the version of Dr Jonathan Scott".