Elizabeth Townshend, Viscountess Sydney (7 April 1736 – 1 May 1826)European Royal History Journal: volume 9.6, pages 23-28. was the wife of Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney.G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 370
She was the daughter of Richard Powys, MP, and his wife, the former Lady Mary Brudenell, daughter of George Brudenell, 3rd Earl of Cardigan. Elizabeth's sister Mary married James Stopford, 2nd Earl of Courtown. Following their father's death in 1743, their mother remarried, her second husband being Thomas Bowlby, MP.Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999.
Elizabeth herself married the viscount on 19 May 1760.L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms (London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972), page 263. They had twelve children in all, several of whom died in infancy. They included:
Hon. Georgiana Townshend (1761-1835) Hon. Mary Elizabeth Townshend (1762-1821), who married General John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham John Thomas Townshend, 2nd Viscount Sydney of St. Leonards (1764-1831) Albinia Ann (1765-1770) Horatio George Townshend (1766-1773) Frederick Roger (1770-1782) Hon. Frances Townshend (1772-1854) Hon. Henrietta Catherine Townshend (1773-1814) who married Charles Montagu-Scott, 4th Duke of Buccleuch, and had children Sophia Charlotte (1777) William Augustus Townshend (1776-1816)
From 1791 to 1818, she was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.
The viscount died in June 1800, aged 67, and was succeeded in his titles by his son, John Thomas. Viscountess Sydney died in May 1826, aged 90.
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