slavery was illegal. Personal life Sydney married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Powys, MP, in 1760. He died in June 1800, aged 67, and was succeeded in his titles by his son, John. Sydney was buried in the Scadbury chapel in the parish church of St Nicholas's in Chislehurst in southeast London, where a large memorial tablet to him may be seen. The Viscountess Sydney died in May 1826, aged 90. Their daughter, Mary (died 1821), married John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham, but had no children. Reputation Sydney's reputation has suffered at the hands of the nationalist school of Australian historians, such as Manning Clark. In his influential A History of Australia (Melbourne University Press 1961) Clark wrote: "Mr Thomas Townshend, commonly denominated Tommy Townshend, owed his political career to a very independent fortune and a considerable parliamentary interest, which contributed to his personal no less than his political elevation, for his abilities, though respectable, scarcely rose above mediocrity." Other writers have portrayed Sydney as a cruel monster for dispatching the unfortunate convicts to the far side of the earth. Sydney can be described, by the standards of his time, as an enlightened and progressive politician. He did not support the American Revolution but was a strong opponent of the war which he thought was pointless and needlessly prolonged during Lord North's ministry. As Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary he was heavily involved in the development of Canada and the settling of fleeing refugees from the intolerant rebels. The city of Sydney in Nova Scotia is named after him in memory of his efforts on behalf of the loyalist settlers of Canada. In a parallel situation for the Royal Townships of the yet-to-formed colony of Upper Canada the thoroughfares of the United Empire Loyalist settlement of Cornwall, Ontario were, in 1784, named Pitt Street and Sydney Street in honour of the prime minister and his foreign secretary. In 1986, preceding celebrations of the Australian Bicentenary, Sydney was honoured on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post depicting his portrait. In 1992, a monument in bronze and marble commemorating both the First Fleet and Viscount Sydney was unveiled in Sydney Square, outside Sydney Town Hall by Queen Elizabeth II. More recently Sydney's reputation has been revisited by Australian historians. Alan Atkinson wrote in The Europeans in Australia (Oxford University Press, 1997): "Townshend was an anomaly in the British Cabinet, and his