Catholic emancipation, at the request of Barrington, Townsend in 1825 published The Accusations of History against the Church of Rome; new edition 1845. The work was intended as a reply to Charles Butler's Historical Memoirs of the English, Scottish, and Irish Catholics since the Reformation, 1822. In 1836 Townsend compiled a Life and Vindication of John Foxe the martyrologist; it was prefixed to the first volume of the edition of the Acts and Monuments by Stephen Reed Cattley (8 vols. 1837–41). His Life and Defence of the Principles of Bishop Bonner (London, 1842) was ironical. On his return from Italy he published an account of his journey, under the title Journal of a Tour in Italy in 1850, with an Account of an Interview with the Pope in the Vatican, London, 1850. Townsend wrote other works including: Poems, London, 1810. Armageddon, a Poem, London, 1816. Thirty Sermons on some of the most interesting Subjects in Theology, London, 1830. Plan for abolishing Pluralities and Non-residence, London, 1833. Spiritual Communion with God; or the Pentateuch and the Book of Job arranged, 2 vols. London, 1845–9. Historical Researches: Ecclesiastical and Civil History from the Ascension of our Lord to the Death of Wycliffe, philosophically considered with reference to a future Reunion of Christians, London, 1847. Twenty-seven Sermons on Miscellaneous Subjects, London, 1849. Townsend also wrote a series of sonnets to accompany Thomas Stothard's illustrations of the Pilgrim's Progress''; and edited in 1828 the ‘Theological Works’ of John Barrington, 1st Viscount Barrington. Family He was twice married, and by his first wife left a son, George Fyler Townsend, who was later perpetual curate of St Michael's, Burleigh Street, Westminster. References Sources Attribution External links 1788 births 1857 deaths 19th-century English Anglican priests Academics of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst People from Ramsgate