In 1869 Townshend introduced a bill to Parliament making it unlawful for anyone but a parent to box a child's ears, and to permit no corporeal punishment of children except for flogging, known to English youth as "horsing".

A Colonel Nepean held the pony's head while Townshend struck him several times with the handle of a horse whip.

Thynne acknowledged having eloped with Lady Townshend in 1872, but noted that the marquess had never sued for divorce, and alleged that Lord Macduff had attacked him over the same matter while he was abroad.

[3] Townshend denounced the court, while Vanity Fair reported unnamed others as saying "the only regret is that he [Thynne] was not thrashed earlier and worse".

[4] In 1897 Lord Townsend placed Tamworth Castle and the neighbouring manors of Bolehall and Glascote up for auction.