Alexander James Townend

Alexander Townsend in 1881 census was a widower, aged 44 living at Heath Lodge, Abbeywood, Erith, Kent, England. His occupation is described as East India & Colonial Broker. His elder sister Elizabeth Townsend, age 47 was also living there and there were three servants. In the 1871 census, he was visiting his brother Herbert's home at Eliot place, Lewisham, Kent and he is described as 35 and a widower. In the 1891 census, Alexander is 54 years old and is living at Linley House, Blackheath Park, Charlton (next Woolwich) , London, England. He is a retired produce broker and is married to Elizabeth Anne Townsend, who is a very devout Christian, who wrote some beautiful poems expressing her love for her elderly mother & her concern for the soul of her erring brother Jeremiah, who she knew had been taking drugs, possibly opium or laudanum. She also wrote about her faith in Christ and his redemptive sacrifice for human beings & the certainty of the next life . After her death in 1910 her husband published her poems himself & sent a copy to his niece Emily Alice Friend in South Africa. After her death in July 1910, her husband was a widower until 1914, when he was looked after by Emily Agnes Townsend, but she was not his wife, despite the inscription on his tombstone. If his wife Elizabeth Anne (1838) was related to him ( parents George & Alice Townend) it is possible that she did not have any children of her own. The existing dates are also impossible for him to be their father