Charles Townshend

British statesman, the grandson of Charles, 2nd Viscount Townshend. He entered the House of Commons in 1747. He was a Lord of the Admiralty and secretary for war (1761–2), and became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1766. He asserted authority over the American colonies by imposing high taxes on necessities, especially on tea (the Townshend Acts, 1767) - a policy which ultimately provoked the American War of Independence (1775–83).

Charles Townshend (August 29, 1725 – September 4, 1767), was born in Raynham Hall, Norfolk, England. He was an English politician and the second son of Charles Townshend, 3rd Viscount Townshend, and Audrey (d.

Charles was sent for his education to Leiden and Oxford.

He represented Great Yarmouth in parliament from 1747 to 1761, when he found a seat for the treasury borough of Harwich. Public attention was first drawn to his abilities in 1753, when he delivered a lively attack, as a younger son who might hope to promote his advancement by allying himself in marriage to a wealthy heiress, against Lord Hardwicke's marriage bill.

In April 1754 Townshend was transformed from the position of a member of the board of trade, which he had held from 1749, to that of a lord of the admiralty, but at the close of 1755 his passionate attack against the policy of the ministry, an attack which shared in popular estimation with the scathing denunciations of Pitt, the supreme success of Single-Speech Hamilton, and the hopeless failure of Lord Chesterfield's illegitimate son, caused his resignation. In the administration which was formed in November 1756, and which was ruled by Pitt, the lucrative office of treasurer of the chamber was given to Townshend, and in the following spring he was summoned to the privy council.

With the accession of the new monarch in 1760 this volatile politician transferred his attentions from Pitt to the young king's favorite, Bute, and when in 1761, at the latter's instance, several changes were made in the ministry, Townshend was promoted to the post of secretary-at-war. Bute, alarmed at the growth in numbers and in influence of his enemies, tried to buy back Townshend's co-operation by sundry tempting promises, and at last secured his object in March 1763 with the presidency of the board of trade.

When Bute retired and George Grenville accepted the cares of official life, the higher post of first lord of the admiralty fell to Townshend's lot, but with his usual impetuosity he presumed to designate one of his satellites, Sir William Burrell (1732-1796), to a place under him at the board, and the refusal to accept the nomination led to his exclusion from the new administration. he condescended to accept in the dying days of Grenville's cabinet, and to retain through the "lutestring" administration of Lord Rockingham "pretty summer wear," as Townshend styled it, "but it will never stand the winter" the highly paid position of paymaster-general, refusing to identify himself more closely with its fortunes as chancellor of the exchequer.

The position which he refused from the hands of Lord Rockingham he accepted from Pitt in August 1766, and a few weeks later his urgent appeals to the great minister for increased power were favorably answered, and he was admitted to the inner circle of the cabinet.

This defeat proved a great mortification to Lord Chatham, and in his irritation against Townshend for this blow, as well as for some acts of insubordination, he meditated the removal of his showy colleague. Before this could be accomplished Chatham's mind became impaired, and Townshend, who was the most determined and influential of his colleagues, swayed the ministry as he liked, pledging himself to find a revenue in America with which to meet the deficiency caused by the reduction in the land tax.

He himself delivered in the House of Commons many speeches unrivalled in parliamentary history for wit and recklessness; His last official act was to carry out his intention by passing through parliament resolutions, which even his colleagues deprecated in the cabinet, for taxing several articles, such as glass, paper and tea, on their importation into America, which he estimated would produce the insignificant sum of 40,000 for the English treasury, and which shrewder observers prophesied would lead to the loss of the American colonies. These measures were known as the Townshend Acts, and he received the support of his cousin Thomas Townshend who was also a minister in the government.

The universal tribute of Townshend's colleagues allows him the possession of boundless wit and ready eloquence, set off by perfect melody of intonation, but marred by an unexampled lack of judgment and discretion. The House of Commons recognized in him its spoilt child, and Burke happily said that "he never thought, did or said anything" without judging its effect on his fellow members.

From the Percy Anecdotes we read; "If we can believe the evidence of his contemporaries, Charles Townshend must have been one of the most accomplished senators that ever sat in Parliament. His speeches in the House of Commons never lasted more than half an hour, and he had, in that time, always debated his subject without fatiguing his hearers. ' In truth, ' says he, ' Charles Townshend was the delight and ornament of the House; he conformed exactly to the temper of the house, and seemed to guide, because he was always sure to follow it.

' Failings, ' continues Mr. Burke, ' he undoubtedly had; he every day adapted himself to your disposition, and adjusted himself before you, as at a looking-glass. '"

The town of Townshend in Vermont, USA was named after Charles Townshend in 1753.

A Memoir by Percy Fitzgerald was published in 1866.