Stephen Chapman Townesend[a] FRCS (1860 – May 1914) was an English surgeon, stage actor, writer and anti-vivisectionist.

Stephen Chapman Townesend was the son of a rector in London.

He was educated at St Bartholomew's Hospital and the University of Edinburgh.

He was surgeon on the Orient Steamship Company's line, house surgeon at St Mark's Hospital and at Birmingham General Hospital.

[1] Townesend was a stage actor under the name Will Dennis and assisted the Amateur Dramatic Society of St Bartholomew's Hospital.