The Towneley or Townley family are an English family whose ancestry can be traced back to Anglo-Saxon England. Towneley Hall in Burnley, Lancashire, was the family seat until its sale, together with the surrounding park, to the corporation of Burnley in 1901. Towneley Hall is now a Grade I listed building and a large museum and art gallery within Towneley Park.
Early members of the branch of the family at Towneley Hall served as soldiers, some holding positions such as High Sheriff of Lancashire. However, they generally retained the Catholic faith, meaning that from the mid-16th century they were fined and imprisoned for recusancy and banned from public office until the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829.
Other branches of the family were based at Hurstwood near Towneley, Royle on the opposite side of Burnley, and later Littleton in Surrey, Dutton close to Ribchester, Barnside near Colne, and Carr Hall and Stonedge near Barrowford.
The Towneleys of Towneley Hall Sometime between 1195 and 1211, Roger de Lacy made a grant of lands at 'Tunleia', 'Coldcotes' and 'Snodesworth' (Snodworth is south of Langho) to Geoffrey, son of Robert the Dean of Whalley. By 1295 Nicholas de Towneley, thought to be a descendant of Geoffrey, had died and Towneley was shared between his three sisters Agnes, Cecily and Isabel. Cecily was married to John de la Legh, the son of Gilbert, the manager of the local de Lacy cattle farms. The de la Legh family were the largest tenant in Cliviger at the time that it was a possession of Kirkstall Abbey, renting about 40% of the township. And Gilbert had purchased the manor of Hapton in 1303–04, only to have this blocked by Henry de Lacy, and he was forced to wait until 1328 to acquire it. The same year he also purchased Isabel's third of Towneley from her family, the Claytons. John and Cecily had two sons, Gilbert and Richard. While Gilbert would take control at Hapton and also purchase the neighbouring manor of Birtwistle in 1356, Richard would take Towneley.
Richard de Towneley (c.1313–1381)
Richard de Towneley, also known as Richard de la Legh, was born circa 1323. By 1345 he had married Ellen. In 1351, at the time of the plague known as the Black Death, Richard rented the manor of St Saviour (Stydd) near Ribchester, probably living there for the rest of his life. The same year, along with his brother Gilbert, the Abbot of Whalley and John de Altham, he held the franchise for providing a bailiff for Blackburnshire. In 1353 he was one of two receivers for Lancashire appointed by the 1st Duke of Lancaster, also attending the Parliaments of 1361 and 1371 as a knight of Lancashire. He was Escheator of the County in 1371 and served as the High Sheriff of Lancashire from 1374 to 1377. He died on 16 April 1381, survived by three sons, John, Robert and Henry.
John Towneley (1350–1399) Married Isabella de Rishton, probably in 1382. John's uncle Gilbert died without heir, so in addition to two-thirds of Towneley, plus land in Cliviger, in Worsthone, and in Briercliffe, he inherited Hapton and Birtwistle. By 1388 he had acquired the remaining third of Towneley from the descendants of Agnes.
Richard Towneley (1387–1455) Married Alice. Man-at-arms at the battle of Agincourt.
John Towneley (1415–c. 1473) Married three times, however only had children with his second wife Isabela Sherburne.
Sir Richard Towneley (1445–1482) Son of John and Isabel. Married Joanna Southworth in 1472. Knighted at Hutton Field in 1482, during Richard Duke of Gloucester's (later King Richard III) Scottish Campaign that captured Berwick-upon-Tweed. Died in 1482 of wounds suffered during the capture of Berwick Castle.
Sir John Towneley (1473–1540) Son of Sir Richard and Joanna. Married to Isabel Pilkington in 1480, his father died when John was only nine and he reached adulthood under the guardianship of her father Sir Charles Pilkington. His wife Isabel inherited Gateford in Nottinghamshire in 1485. He was knighted on 30 September 1497 by the Earl of Surrey,lancastercastle.com Accessed 2010 probably at Ayton when the peace treaty was signed with Scotland after the Perkin Warbeck skirmishes. He established Hapton Park, in 1514 and enlarged it to cover 1100 Lancashire acres (equivalent to ), which amounted to about half of Hapton township, making it the second largest in Lancashire after Knowsley. Was High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1532.
Richard Towneley (1499–1555) Son of Sir John and Isabel, married Grace (also known as Elizabeth) Foljambe in 1511. His son with Grace, also called Richard married Francis Wimbishe around 1536. Francis was the sister of Thomas Wymbishe and inherited his Nocton estate in Lincolnshire on his death in 1553. Knighted in 1547, possibly at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh. Only one daughter, Mary, survived to adulthood.
John Towneley (c. 1528–1607)
Son of Sir John's second son Charles and Elizabeth Kaye. Half-brother through his mother to Alexander Nowell, and Lawrence Nowell (amongst others). Often known as John Towneley of Gray's Inn because he was a Lawyer. Acquired Towneley by his marriage in 1557 to then 16-year-old Mary, his first cousin once removed, he being a grandchild and she a great-grandchild of Sir John. Fined and imprisoned several times between 1573 and 1594 for recusancy and giving shelter to Catholic priests during the reign of Elizabeth I.
Richard Towneley (1566–1628) Born at Towneley Hall, Burnley. Son of John and Mary. Married Jane Ashton in 1594. Built a large extension on the north side of the hall that was finished about 1626.
Richard Towneley (1598–1635) Son of Richard and Jane. Died unmarried.
Charles Towneley (1600–1644) Born at Towneley Hall. Son of Richard and Jane. Catholic. Attended St. Omer's College and Louvain in Belgium and the English College in Rome between 1614 and 1624. Married Mary Trappes in 1628. Inherited the estate in 1635 upon the death of his brother Richard. Killed leading a small Infantry regiment for the Royalists at the Battle of Marston Moorbritish-civil-wars.co.uk Accessed 2010 during the English Civil War.
Christopher Towneley (1603 or 1604–1674)
Born at Towneley Hall. A younger son of Richard and Jane. Christopher was a noted antiquarian. A portrait of him was placed at Towneley Hall.
Richard Towneley (1629–1707)
Recovered the Lancashire estates from the Parliamentary Sequestration Committee. The first person to make regular measurements of rainfall in England. Inventor of the Deadbeat escapement.
Charles Towneley (1658–1712) Son of Richard and Mary. Married Ursula Fermor in 1685. Implicated with his father in the plot to secure the return to the English throne of King James II in 1690 that resulted in the Battle of the Boyne.
Richard Towneley (1689–1735) Son of Charles and Ursula. Married Mary Widdrington, the sister of William Widdrington, 4th Baron Widdrington in 1713. Arrested for treason in 1715, after the Battle of Preston, he was later acquitted after an expensive trial. He died on 18 August 1735. Two of his brothers, John and Francis joined the French army before aiding the Jacobite rising of 1745. John returned to France before Culloden and was made a Chevalier (Knight) of the Order of Saint Louis. Another brother, George avoided the conflict, instead marrying Mary Hodgson, the heiress of Leighton Hall near Carnforth.
Francis Towneley (1708-1746) The youngest son of Charles and Ursula, Francis was born at Towneley and educated in France. In 1728 he enlisted in the French Army and fought at Phillipsburg in 1734. In 1745 he was elected Colonel of the Manchester Regiment. He was captured on the surrender of Carlisle Siege of Carlisle (December 1745) and executed on Kennington Common, London in July 1746. The children's book How The Hangman Lost His Heart, although a work of fiction, is inspired by his story.
William Towneley (1714–1742) The Son of Richard and Mary, he was born at Towneley on 30 May 1714. He Married Cecilia Standish, granddaughter of the 6th Duke of Norfolk in 1736. He died at Bath, Somerset on 2 February 1742. After his death at the age of 27, his widow left Towneley Hall at the time of Jacobite rising and did not return.
Charles Townley (1737–1805)
Son of William and Cecilia. Collector of the Towneley Marbles (including the Townley Venus, Townley Vase and Townley Discobolus). After his death Towneley passed to his brother Edward Standish, however when he died in 1807 it passed back to their uncle John.
John Towneley (1731–1813) Son of Richard and Mary. Book collector. Married Barbara Dicconson in 1756. His collection included the Towneley Cycle. In 1786, his uncle George left him the Leighton estate, which he had greatly improved.History of Leighton Hall Accessed 2010 In 1792 he inherited the Widdrington's Stella estates through his mother. Trustee of British Museum. Elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1797. Sold the Leighton estate in 1805.
Peregrine Edward Towneley (1762–1846) Born on 10 October 1762 at Corney House, Chiswick. Son of John and Barbara. Married Charlotte Drummond in 1794. Elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1812. In 1814 he sold his father's book collection to fund improvements to the Hall, for which he employed the services of the architect Jeffry Wyattville.Towneley Hall ebook Accessed 2010 Around 1817, he donated land and £1000 to build the town's first catholic chapel since the catholic emancipation.genuki - Towneley chapel Accessed 2010 The site was on the Todmorden Road in the Burnley Wood area of Habergham Eaves which was later incorporated into the township of Burnley close to the present day St. Mary's Church. Following the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, he became High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1831. Purchased the Lordship of Bowland in 1835. His daughter Frances went on to marry Thomas Stonor (later made the 3rd Baron Camoys), one their children was the Catholic archbishop Edmund Stonor.
Colonel Charles Towneley (1803–1876)
Son of Peregrine and Charlotte. He married Lady Caroline Molyneux, the daughter of William Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton in 1836 and had three daughters: Alice, the second wife of Thomas O'Hagan, 1st Baron O'Hagan, Emily, who married Lord Alexander Gordon-Lennox, and Caroline, who married Montagu Bertie, 7th Earl of Abingdon. Elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1842. Held the Lordship of Bowland from 1846 to 1876. Elected as an MP for Sligo Borough (now in the Republic of Ireland) in 1848 and 1852, however, unseated on petition both times. High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1857. 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.St. Hubert's Website Accessed 2010 Towneley was commissioned on 16 March 1853 to raise the 5th Royal Lancashire Militia with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant, with his brother John as one of the majors.Hart's, various dates. He retired from the command on 23 March 1863 (when his brother was promoted to succeed him) and was appointed Honorary Colonel of the regiment.Army List, various dates.London Gazette Accessed 2010 JP. DL. FSA.
John Towneley (1806–1878)