John Townshend, 5th Marquess Townshend

Who was John Townshend, 5th Marquess Townshend?

John Villiers Stuart Townshend, 5th Marquess Townshend, known as Viscount Raynham from 1855 to 1863, was a British peer and Liberal Member of Parliament.

Townshend was the son of John Townshend, 4th Marquess Townshend, and Elizabeth Jane Crichton-Stuart. The soldier George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, was his paternal great-grandfather and Prime Minister John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, his maternal great-grandfather. He was elected to the House of Commons for Tamworth in 1855, a seat he held until 1863, when he inherited the marquessate on his father's death and entered the House of Lords.

Lord Townshend married Lady Anne Elizabeth Clementina Duff, daughter of James Duff, 5th Earl Fife, on 17 October 1865. Their children included:

John James Dudley Stuart Townshend, 6th Marquess Townshend

Agnes Elizabeth Audrey Townshend, married James Cunningham-Durham and had issue.

Lord Townshend died in October 1899, aged 68, and was succeeded in his titles by his son John. Lady Townshend died in 1925.