Mary Georgiana Townsend, née Lambert (1889–1986)
Mayor of Oxford 1935/6, 1936, and 1958/9
Mrs Townsend in 1935/6
(Picture Oxon 0618232)
Mary Georgiana Lambert, later Mrs Townsend (and then Lady Townsend from 1941), was born in Killiney, Dublin, Ireland on 15 November 1889. She was the daughter of Peter Fitzwalter Lambert and Julia Mary Hewetson, who were married at Dublin on 7 July 1887 and lived at Castle Ellen, County Galway.
When Mary was aged six her father Peter Fitzwalter Lambert, who was the High Sheriff of Galway, died at Castle Ellen on 24 February 1894 (see his grave).
At the time of the 1901 Irish census Mary (11) was living at Nassau Street, Dublin with her widowed mother Julia Mary Lambert (3) and her siblings Amelia Lizzie Lambert (12), Henry Alexander Lambert (9), and William Robert Lambert (5), plus a governess and a servant. Their religion was recorded as Church of Ireland. Her other brother Walter Peter Lambert (10) was boarding at West Downs Prep School in Romsey Road, Winchester.
On 5 June 1911 in Dublin, Mary Lambert married John Sealey Edward Townsend, who was born in Galway in Ireland on 17 June 1868 and was thus 21 years her senior. In 1900 he had been appointed the first Wykeham Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and Mary moved to Oxford with him. They began their married life at 20 Merton Street.
They had two sons, both born at 20 Merton Street:
- Edward Walter Townsend (born on 7 August 1912 and baptised at St Peter-in-the-East Church on 23 August)
- John Henry Townsend (born on 7 June 1914 and baptised at St Peter-in-the-East Church on 24 June).
At the start of their marriage her husband was a leader in research , and from 1915 he served as a Major in the Royal Naval Air Service, based mostly at Woolwich, where he worked on wireless telegraphy.
The 1921 census shows Mary Townsend (31) living at 20 Merton Street, Oxford with her husband John (53), described as a Professor of Physics, and their sons Edward (8) and John (7), plus their cook and their parlourmaid.
Their sons were educated at Winchester School and they both went on to the University of Oxford: Edward to New College and John to Magdalen.
In the 1930s the Townsends moved to 55 Banbury Road (the house formerly occupied by another Mayor of Oxford, John Henry Salter, who had died at the end of 1930). Mrs Townsend was considered a “delightful hostess” here.
Mrs Townsend was elected to serve as Conservative city councillor for the North Ward in 1925, and her photograph appeared in the Oxford Journal Illustrated on 15 July and 4 November that year.
In 1935 Mrs Townsend was elected Mayor of Oxford for 1935/6): she was only the second woman to hold the office, and the first married woman. On 23 January 1936 she proclaimed the accession of King Edward VIII at Carfax, St Mary-the-Virgin Church, Queen Street, and the site of the North Gate in Cornmarket, and she officially opened Florence Park on 27 July 1936.
Her successor as Mayor died in an accident just three months into his mayoral year, and so in July 1936 she was elected Mayor again to serve for the remaining nine months (1936/7).
The 1939 Register shows Mrs Townsend, described as a Justice of the Peace, living at 55 Banbury Road with her husband John, described as a Professor of Physics, and two servants.
Her son Edward Walter Townsend, had been commissioned Second Lieutenant into the 4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry on 9 December 1931, was promoted to Lieutenant on 9 December 1934. He transferred to the Royal Corps of Signals in August 1935 and served in the Second World War, being promoted to Captain on 1 February 1942 and being awarded the Order of Leopold and the Belgian Croix de Guerre. He remained in the army until 6 December 1959, and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Signals in August 1954.
On 16 May 1940 at St Gregory's Church, Bedale, Yorkshire, her elder son Edward Walter Townsend married his first wife Mary Euphemia Heymann (born 1917, the only child of Brigadier F. A. Heymann), who was a teacher at a private school in Coddington Herefordshire. They had two daughters. On 24 April 1947 in the Chelsea district he married his second wife, Stella Margaret White, the daughter of P. G. White, and they had a son and three daughters.
Mrs Mary Townsend’s husband was knighted in January 1941, so she was henceforth known as Lady Townsend. She was nicknamed “Lady Town-and-Gown-send” by Monty Woodhouse, who was MP for Oxford 1959–66 and 1970–4.
The arms of Sir John Townsend (left) were added to the wall of the Lord Mayor’s Parlour when Lady Townsend served as Chief Magistrate.
Sir John Townsend was now considered to be out of touch with his work at the University of Oxford, and when he was unwilling to help the war effort by teaching servicemen, the University established a visitorial board that found him guilty of grave misconduct and advised that he resign or be sacked. He retired in September 1940 on condition that the decision of the board would remain confidential.
On 7 May 1948 Lady Townsend's younger son John Henry Townsend, who became a director of ICI, married his first wife, Lena Moncrieff Westropp, daughter of Captain R. G. Westropp. On 17 February 1965 he married his second wife, Suzanne Marian Richardson, the daughter of Donal Southwell Richardson.
Lady Townsend was leader of the Council from 1945 to 1967 and an alderman, and a city magistrate for twenty years.
In 1953 Townsend Square off Donnington Bridge Road was named after her: it was unusual for an Oxford street to be named after a person during their lifetime.
On 20 October 1958 the Mayor of Oxford Harry Gordon-Roberts died in office and all parties on the council voted unanimously that Lady Townsend should take over for the remaining five months, so on 3 November 1958 at the age of 68 she served a partial third term as Mayor of Oxford (1958/9).
Lady Townsend's husband Sir John Sealy Edward Townsend died at the Acland Nursing Home at the age of 88 on 16 February 1957 and was buried in Wolvercote Cemetery on four days later (Grave C4/71).
Lady Townsend then went to live at Belsyre Court on the Woodstock Road. She retained her seat for 42 years until 1967, and on 17 July that year she received the freedom of the city (only the second woman to be thus honoured).
Photograph of Lady Townsend at her 80th birthday party in 1969
She eventually retired to a home at Burcot.
† Mary Georgiana, Lady Townsend died at Burcot on 23 May 1986 at the age of 96. It seems that she chose be cremated rather than be buried with her husband, as her funeral was at Oxford Crematorium. Her effects came to £17,615.
Her younger son John Henry Townsend, C.B.E. died on 27 January 2002, and his funeral and thanksgiving service were held at St George's, Campden Hill, London.
See also:
- Oxford Mail, 8 May 1967, 12 May 1967, and 18 July 1967 (on receiving the freedom of the city)
- Oxford Times, 30 May 1986, p. 2 (obituary)
- The Peerage: Mary Georgiana Lambert
