Townsend, Henry

Variant names

Dates:

Birth 1909-10-27

Death 2006-09-24

Nationality: Americans,

Biographical notes:

Epithet: Churchwarden of St Clement Danes

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000266.0x00027a

Epithet: landwaiter, Custom House, Dublin

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000266.0x00027b

Epithet: Reverend; of Honington Hall

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000266.0x00027c

Henry Townsend (1815-1886) was accepted as a Church Missionary Society missionary in 1836 and served the Society for nearly 40 years. He initially went to Sierra Leone but in 1843 he was transferred to the Yoruba mission which he was responsible for founding and from 1846 he was stationed at Abeokuta until 1867 when the missionaries were expelled. He retired in 1876. He wrote several hymns in Yoruba, compiled and printed the first hymn book in Yoruba, compiled the Yoruba primer and edited and printed the Iwe Irohin in English and Yoruba, a fortnightly publication.

Reference: Register of missionaries (clerical, lay & female) and native clergy from 1804 to 1904 (Church Missionary Society, 1905).

From the guide to the Papers of Reverend Henry Townsend, 1836-1871, (University of Birmingham Information Services, Special Collections Department)