Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney

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Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney

Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney (born February 24, 1733 in Frognal House , near Chislehurst in Kent , † June 30, 1800 ibid) was a British Home Secretary . The Australian city ​​of Sydney and the Canadian city ​​of Sydney (Nova Scotia) were named after him.

Life

Townshend was the son of Thomas Townshend, the second son of former British Foreign Secretary Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend . He went to Clare College in Cambridge and was a Whig MP in the House of Commons from 1754 , where he remained until 1783. He joined the faction of William Pitt the Elder . In 1765 he became Lord of the Treasury and in 1767 under the Pitt government he became paymaster of the fleet (and at the same time a member of the Privy Council ), which he remained until 1768. He was an opponent of the war in America in the House of Commons and, moreover, did not belong to any faction, but was inclined to the supporters of Pitt. In 1782 he became Secretary of War in the Rockingham government . In July of the same year he became Leader of the House of Commons under the Shelburne Ministry and at the same time Home Secretary and Colonial Secretary, which he remained until 1783. In March 1783 he was raised as Baron Sydney , of Chiselhurst in the County of Kent to a peer , which a hereditary seat in the House of Lords was connected. He had chosen the title to show his descent from Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester . From December 1783 to June 1789 he was again Home Secretary in the government of William Pitt the Younger and Leader of the House of Lords . In 1789 he became Viscount Sydney of Chislehurst in the County of Kent. From 1784 to 1786 he was President of the Committee on Trade and Foreign Plantations.

He was one of the main people responsible for the establishment of the Sydney penal colony, to which prisoners and generally undesirable people were to be deported after the loss of the American colonies. As the first governor he elected Arthur Phillip , who named the settlement after his patron (January 26, 1788). Sydney in Canada is also named after him, this time by Colonel Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres in 1785. Sydney had appointed DesBarres as governor as the then interior minister.

From 1784 to 1790 he was President of the Board of Control of the British East India Company .

Family and offspring

On May 19, 1760, he married Elizabeth Powys (1736-1826), who later became the lady-in-waiting to Queen Charlotte . The couple had seven children:

  1. Georgiana Townshend (1761-1835)
  2. Mary Elizabeth Townshend (1762–1821) ⚭ John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham
  3. John Thomas Townshend, 2nd Viscount Sidney (1764–1831)
  4. Frances Townshend (1772–1854) ⚭ George Rice-Trevor, 4th Baron Dynevor
  5. Harriet Katherine Townshend (1773–1814) ⚭ Charles Montagu-Scott, 4th Duke of Buccleuch
  6. William Augustus Townshend (1776-1816)
  7. Horatio George Powys Townshend (1780-1843)

His son John Townshend inherited his title as 2nd Viscount Sidney.

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predecessor Office successor
New title created Viscount Sydney
1789-1800 		John Townshend
New title created Baron Sydney
1783-1800 		John Townshend
personal data
SURNAME Townshend, Thomas, 1st Viscount Sydney
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Townshend, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Home Secretary and namesake for Sydney
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1733
PLACE OF BIRTH Frognal House , Chislehurst , Kent
DATE OF DEATH June 30, 1800
Place of death Frognal House , Chislehurst , Kent