Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1754 to 1783 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Sydney. He held several important Cabinet posts in the second half of the 18th century. The cities of Sydney in Nova Scotia, Canada, and Sydney in New South Wales, Australia were named in his honour, in 1785 and 1788, respectively.
Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, PC was an English peer and Whig politician who served as the Secretary at War from 1746 to 1755. He also held the offices of Secretary of State for the Southern Department from 1755 to 1756 and Paymaster of the Forces from 1757 to 1765, enriching himself while holding the latter office. While Fox was widely tipped as a potential candidate for the office of Prime Minister, he never held the office. His third son was the Whig statesman Charles James Fox.
Marquess Townshend is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain held by the Townshend family of Raynham Hall in Norfolk. The title was created in 1787 for George Townshend, 4th Viscount Townshend.
Field Marshal George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, PC, known as The Viscount Townshend from 1764 to 1787, was a British soldier and politician. After serving at the Battle of Dettingen during the War of the Austrian Succession and the Battle of Culloden during the Jacobite Rising, Townshend took command of the British forces for the closing stages of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham during the Seven Years' War. He went on to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland or Viceroy where he introduced measures aimed at increasing the size of Irish regiments, reducing corruption in Ireland and improving the Irish economy. In cooperation with Prime Minister North in London, he solidified governmental control over Ireland. He also served as Master-General of the Ordnance, first in the North Ministry and then in the Fox–North Coalition.
The Townshend Acts or Townshend Duties were a series of British acts of Parliament passed during 1767 and 1768 introducing a series of taxes and regulations to enable administration of the British colonies in America. They are named after the Chancellor of the Exchequer who proposed the programme. Historians vary slightly as to which acts they include under the heading "Townshend Acts", but five are often listed:
Lieutenant-General James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, PC (Ire), styled Lord Offaly until 1743 and known as The Earl of Kildare between 1743 and 1761 and as The Marquess of Kildare between 1761 and 1766, was an Anglo-Irish nobleman, soldier and politician.
Lord Charles Henry Somerset PC, born in Badminton, England, was a British soldier, politician and colonial administrator. He was governor of the Cape Colony, South Africa, from 1814 to 1826.
Rear Admiral John Townshend, 4th Marquess Townshend, known as John Townshend until 1855, was a British nobleman, peer, politician, and naval commander.
Henry Vane, 1st Earl of Darlington, PC, known as Lord Barnard between 1753 and 1754, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1726 to 1753 when he succeeded to a peerage as Baron Barnard.
Charles Townshend, 3rd Viscount Townshend, known as The Lord Lynn from 1723 to 1738, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1722 to 1723 when he was elevated to the House of Lords by writ of acceleration.
Caroline Townshend, 1st Baroness Greenwich was a British peeress, the daughter and eldest child of John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, and his wife, the former Jane Warburton. She was a sister of the diarist Lady Mary Coke.
William Power Keating Trench, 1st Earl of Clancarty was an Irish aristocrat and politician and later United Kingdom statesman at the time of the Act of Union. His family, through his son Richard, became prominent and hereditary members of the Netherlands' nobility.
Harry Powlett, 4th Duke of Bolton PC, known until 1754 as Lord Harry Powlett, was a British nobleman and Whig politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1715 to 1754, when he took his seat in the House of Lords.
Cecil Weld-Forester, 1st Baron Forester was a Tory British Member of Parliament and later peer.
Sir Walter Wagstaffe Bagot, 5th Baronet of Blithfield Hall, Staffordshire was an English Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1724 and 1768.
Lord John Townshend PC, styled The Honourable John Townshend until 1787, was a British Whig politician.
Richard Wilson was an Irish-born politician whose origins are obscure.
Alicia Wyndham, Countess of Egremont, formerly the Hon. Alicia Maria Carpenter, was the wife of Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont.
Audrey Etheldreda Townshend, born Audrey Etheldreda Harrison, became Lady Lynn and later Viscountess Townshend was a celebrated English socialite, widely believed to have inspired the character Lady Bellaston, the notorious fictional cougar in Henry Fielding's The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, dramatised in the 2023 TV series played by Hannah Waddingham.
John Cochrane, 4th Earl of Dundonald, was a Scottish aristocrat and politician.
