Colonel Charles Towneley JP DL FRS FSA (January 1803 – 5 November 1876)[1] was a wealthy English Gentleman from an old Roman Catholic, Lancashire family.

[3] Another elder sister, Frances, married Thomas Stonor, 3rd Baron Camoys in 1821, and his younger brother John would follow Charles closely.

[4] In August 1817, he entered the Roman Catholic seminary at St Mary's College, Oscott, studying there until Summer 1823.

However, after a committee formed due to an election petition found he was, by his agents, guilty of treating, he was declared unelected in June, causing a by-election in July.

[2] In the build-up to the Crimean War, Towneley was commissioned on 16 March 1853 to raise the 5th Royal Lancashire Militia with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant.

[11] The auxiliary regiment was already embodied, when war was declared against Russia on 28 March, the following year.

Burnley was rapidly expanding and industrialising, and black smoke from the chimneys mixed with a white sulphuric acid containing fog from a nearby tile works, killing trees and negatively effecting the grass.

Increasing numbers of people walked in the park, transferring diseases and leading to incidents with dogs.

[18] Meanwhile, Eastwood moved to Thorneyholme Hall on Towneley's Whitewell Estate and took on the management of Root Stud Farm there, until shortly before his death in the summer of 1871.

[20] His horse Kettledrum won the 1861 Epsom Derby, he (and possibly others) used the winnings to build St Hubert's catholic church in Dunsop Bridge.

As well as Towneley Hall, he also kept a townhouse on Charles Street off Berkeley Square in the Mayfair area of London.