Box People and Places
Latest Issue 35 Spring 2022 
  • This Issue
    • Gertie Butt
    • Fogleigh Residents
    • Murray & Baldwin
    • Guides 1920s and 30s
    • Noble Family
    • Stewart Family
    • Tunnel Inn
    • Anketell Family
    • Box Tollhouse
    • Institute at Box Hill
    • Memories of Nurse Chalinor
    • Gonks Recalled
    • National Service 1950s
    • Box Quarry Crane
    • More Operative Masons
  • Inter War
    • Postwar Hopes
    • Haunted by War
    • Improving Life
    • Timeline
  • Previous
    • Issue 34 - Fogleigh House
    • Issue 33 - KIngsdown Post Office
    • Issue 32 - Chapel Lane
    • Issue 31 - Saxon Box
    • Issue 30 - Georgian Rudloe
    • Issues 20-29 >
      • Issue 29 - Darkest Hour
      • Issue 28 - VE Day
      • Issue 27 - Northey
      • Issue 26 - Heritage Trail
      • Issue 25 - Slave Owners
      • Issue 24 - Highwaymen
      • Issue 23 - Georgian
      • Issue 22 - War Memorial
      • Issue 21 - Childhood 1949-59
      • Issue 20 - Box Home Guard
    • Issues 10-19 >
      • Issue 19 - Outbreak WW2
      • Issue 18 - Building Bargates
      • Issue 17 - Railway Changes
      • Issue 16 - Quarries
      • Issue 15 - Rail & Quarry
      • Issue 14 - Civil War
      • Issue 13: Box Revels
      • Issue 12 - Where You Live
      • Issue 11 - Tudor & Stuart
      • Issue 10 - End of Era 1912
    • Issues 1-9 >
      • Issue 9 - Health & Leisure
      • Issue 8 - Farming & Rural
      • Issue 7 - Manufacturing
      • Issue 6 - Celebrations
      • Issue 5 - Victorian Centre
      • Issue 4 - Slump after WW1
      • Issue 3 - Great War 1914-18
      • Issue 2 - 1950s & 1960s
      • Issue 1 - 1920s
    • Index By Author
    • Partner Sites & Book Reviews
    • Currency Converter
  • People
  • Places
  • General
  • Series
    • Northeys
    • Box School Series
    • Box Farms
    • Box Library Project
    • NATS Trails
    • Prehistory
    • Roman
    • Early Medieval >
      • Vikings in Box
      • Box Before Normans
      • Common Field Farming
      • Conclusion
      • Wessex Under Attack
      • Boundaries of Box
      • Routes in Box
      • Late Saxon Locations
      • Society in Anglo-Saxon Box
      • Christianity in Box
      • Why Box is in Wiltshire?
      • Anglo-Saxon Evidence
      • Art and Craft
      • Why Speak English?
      • Box after AD 350
      • Britain in Late Antiquity
    • Feudal
    • Late Medieval
    • Tudor & Stuart
    • Georgian
    • Rail & Quarry
    • Late Victorian
    • Great War
    • WW2 Index
    • Modern
  • Contact
    • Blog
    • Q&A
Townsend Family Reunion

Kelly Townsend
July 2016

In October 2015 we had an enquiry from Jane Townsend about her family ancestor, Henry Townsend, who had been born in Box in 1809 and emigrated to Waikouaiti, New Zealand in 1857. You can read her story at Townsend Family.
Picture
Townsend Family Tree (courtesy Jane and Kelly Townsend)
Later in 2015 Kelly Townsend, Henry's great, great, great granddaugter, made a visit to Box and told us about a family reunion they were planning. This is her information about the wonderful event and the booklet she wrote for the family.
The Reunion
We had a lovely reunion in March with 59 people attending. I thought you might like to see an article from the local paper, below. Thanks once again for Box people's help and input into our family history; it was so helpful. Our booklet ended up being more than 120 pages of research and photos and was very well received by the family.
Picture
The Townsend gathering (courtesy Jane and Kelly Townsend)
Townsend Family in New Zealand
The Townsend family reunion, held at the Waikouaiti, East Otago, New Zealand on Saturday 19 March, was attended by 59 descendants from all over New Zealand. A lunch for reunion members was followed by a guided walk to the former family farm which is now owned by the Brockbank family in Waikouaiti.
Henry Townsend's son, James Andrew Townsend, was born at Trowbridge, England, in 1844 and emigrated to New Zealand.
He farmed at Caversham, Dunedin, and then at Taieri Mouth before joining the police in the late 1870s. He became a first-class constable and served at South Dunedin, Oamaru, Waikouaiti, Kakanui and at Hawksbury. While he was stationed at Waikouaiti, he arrested a man called Butler who later confessed to murdering two people in Cumberland Street, Dunedin.

James Townsend and his wife Janet, nee Lyall, had seven sons and five daughters. Both the Townsends and some family members are buried in St John's Churchyard in Waikouaiti. Descendant, Kelly Townsend, has written a family history which she described as a work-in-progress.
Picture
Most of Henry's children had sheep runs here and some of the land is still in the family (courtesy Kelly Townsend).
John Dempster of Tumai is the only Townsend family descendant still living in the Waikouaiti area. He had known none of the other family descendants until the family reunion.
Waikouaiti
And in case you are wondering what Waikouaiti is like, here are a few photos of this wonderful location and there are plenty more details on the Waikouaiti Coast Heritage Centre website http://www.wchc.org.nz/HOME.aspx.
Anyone fancy next year's Box Revels out there?
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Back to Issue 13