At the end of his life he chaired the River Great Ouse Catchment Board, where he attempted to prevent damage to Fenland farms caused by regular flooding.
[3] In September 1911, Townley was unanimously adopted as the Conservative candidate for Wisbech or North Cambridgeshire division,[4] a seat held narrowly by Hon Neil James Archibald Primrose for the Liberal Party.
However, when Primrose was killed during the First World War, the Conservative Association felt obliged to endorse the Liberal candidate Colin Coote by the terms of the electoral pact.
[3] Townley was adopted as Conservative candidate for Mid Bedfordshire on 18 November 1918, where he received the Coalition Coupon in opposition to Sir Arthur Black, incumbent MP for Biggleswade who was a Liberal supporter of H. H.
[9] He made it clear that his commitment to agriculture dominated other issues, joining a protest in July 1921 against the government's Corn Production Acts (Repeal) Bill which removed subsidy.
Townley asked rhetorically what the government intended to do with ex-servicemen who had been encouraged to go into farming, and whether it was better "to spend money on British agriculture than to seek to make Palestine a land fit for Hebrews to live in?
[18] After the flood Townley complained that the rateable value of the area of the catchment board was so low that the cost of the works would be crippling, and called for Government help.