Thomas Townshend (MP)

[1] He was educated at Eton in 1718, and was admitted at King's College, Cambridge and Lincoln's Inn in 1720.

[2] Townshend was returned as Whig Member of Parliament for Winchelsea at the 1722 British general election and was appointed under-secretary of state to his father in 1724.

He was appointed Teller of the Exchequer in 1727 and held the post for the rest of his life.

He was returned unopposed for Cambridge University at the 1734 British general election and was appointed secretary to the Duke of Devonshire, the lord lieutenant of Ireland in 1739.

Their son Thomas became a prominent politician and was created Viscount Sydney in 1789.