Horace Uniacke Townsend

TOWNSEND, HORACE UNIACKE

County surveyor for the North Riding of Co. Tipperary, 1839-1845, and for Co. Laois, 1845-1883. Horace (or Horatio) Uniacke Townsend was born in Cork on 28 March 1816, the third son of Thomas Townsend, of Clyda, near Mallow, Co. Cork, by his wife Martha, daughter of Redmond Uniacke. He was admitted to Trinity College, Dublin, at the age of seventeen in February 1833. The following year he became a pupil of THOMAS KEARNEY. Immediately after completing his pupilage on 31 March 1839, he was appointed county surveyor for the North Riding of Co. Tipperary, having successfully sat the county surveyorship examination the previous December. In August 1845 he was transferred at his own request to Co. Laois, where he remained for the rest of his career. He also practised privately. He resigned in May 1883 on the grounds of age and health and moved to Blackrock, Co. Dublin. After his retirement he conducted an enquiry for the Board of Works on the feasibility of a tramline from Skibbereen to Schull in Co. Cork. He died on 15 February 1897 and was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin. He had married Louisa, daughter of William Clarke of Wilfield, Co. Dublin, in 1841, by whom he had five sons and seven daughters. He was first cousin of Elizabeth Susanna Trench (née Townsend), the mother of JOHN TOWNSEND TRENCH and brother-in-law of Maria, eldest daughter of SAMUEL USSHER ROBERTS.

ICEI: elected member, 1874.(4)

Address: Home: Rathmoyle, Abbeyleix, Co. Laois; Waltyham Terrace, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, 1883? until death.