Description
“I had better do something” wrote the youngest son of Viscount Townshend when he was still at school. He was referring to a future career, aware that in time he would be expected to earn his own living. Being a younger son born into affluence was no passport to an idle life.
Both of the Townshend boys recorded in this book were dutiful and supported their elder brother in his political ambitions, each in turn serving as MP for Great Yarmouth. But forming their own tastes and ambitions they followed very different paths and in their separate ways demonstrate the tug of family loyalty and the lure of achievement.
The archival riches of the Townshend family and estate papers at Raynham Hall, Norfolk formed the basis of Mary-Anne Garry’s recent book Forward in the World about the First Viscount Townshend. Now she assesses the careers of two of the First Viscount’s sons: Colonel Roger Townshend (1677-1709) and Horatio Townshend (1682-1751). While their elder brother, the Second Viscount, who inherited the family estates, made his mark as a statesman the brothers turned respectively to careers in the army and as a merchant.
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