George Ferrars Townshend, 3rd Marquess Townshend (13 December 1778 – 31 December 1855), previously known by the courtesy titles of Lord Chartley (from 1782 to 1807) and Earl of Leicester (from 1807 to 1811), was a British peer. His homosexuality caused a scandal and resulted in the rapid breakdown of his marriage and disinheritance by his father. He moved abroad and died at Genoa, then in the Kingdom of Sardinia, without issue.
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Origins and childhood
Townshend was born on 13 December 1778, the elder son and heir of George Townshend, 17th Baron Ferrers of Chartley and 8th Baron Compton (1753-1811), by his wife Charlotte Ellerker. His father was the eldest son and heir of George Townshend, 4th Viscount Townshend, and had inherited two baronies by writ from his mother, who had died in 1770. Townshend was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Titles
His father was created Earl of Leicester in 1784, at which point Townshend adopted the courtesy title Lord Chartley (derived from his father's junior title of Lord Ferrers of Chartley). His grandfather was created Marquess Townshend in 1787, and when his father inherited that title in 1807 Townshend adopted as a courtesy title his father's more senior title of Earl of Leicester. He succeeded his father as 3rd Marquess Townshend in 1811.