Charles Edward Townroe (1857-1938) & Mary Dakeyne Webster (1849-1941)
Charles Edward Townroe, the third and youngest child of James Weston Townroe and Anne Boss, was born on 11 February 1857.
Mary Dakeyne Webster was born on 3 May 1849, the daughter of Joseph Webster and Mary Foster of Sherwood Rise, Nottingham. She was baptised on 28 April 1865 at St John’s, Nottingham, along with her brother Joseph Henry. (Interestingly her name is written as Mary Dakin in the parish register.)
Charles Edward Townroe and Mary Dakeyne Webster were married at St Stephen’s Church, Sneinton on 12 April 1883. The ceremony was performed by his brother the Rev J Weston Townroe, assisted by the vicar of St Alban’s.
They lived first at Clipstone Avenue, where their eldest child Bernard Stephen was born in 1885 (he was baptised on 19 April at St Alban’s, Sneinton). They then moved to 2 Lenton Road, The Park where their daughter and second son were born – Sybil Mary born in 1888 (baptised by her uncle, Rev J W Townroe on 8 June at St Peter At Gowts, Lincoln) and Geoffrey Charles born in 1894 (baptised 6 December at St Stephen’s, Sneinton).
In the 1900s the family moved to 12 Park Terrace, where they remained living.
Charles Edward Townroe worked for over 40 years at the Nottingham and Notts Bank, whose offices were in Thurland Street, Nottingham.
In official records he was described as a bank clerk or banker, which perhaps underplays his successful career.
He was the chief accountant at the time of the bank’s amalgamation with the Westminster Bank in 1919 (in which he played an active part), at which point he retired.
Their daughter, Sybil died in 1890. She was buried in the Nottingham cemetery.
Bernard Stephen Townroe was living in Warrington when he married Marjory Collingwood on 19 October 1910 at St Peter’s church, Newton, and had a burgeoning career as a journalist and politician prior to the outbreak of the Great War.
Charles and Mary’s younger son, Geoffrey, attended St Edward’s School, Oxford and was also a member of the Nottingham Rowing Club before attending Cambridge. He had completed his first year at Christ’s College when war broke out, and he received his commission in December 1914.
Geoffrey served in France from 4 August 1916 as a lieutenant in the South Lancashire Regiment.
He was promoted to acting captain in February 1917. On 8 September 1917 Geoffrey Charles Townroe was killed by a piece of shell which struck his heart while in charge of a working party digging a cable trench, death being almost instantaneous.
His grave is in Vlamertinghe New Military cemetery.
His obituary in St Edward’s School Chronicle described him as “one of those quiet retiring dispositions who are seldom distinguished at school, but whose after career brings out their latent capacity, and shows them trustworthy and strong”. At Christ’s College, where he had rowed stroke in their 3rd VIII, he was remembered as “His sterling character and gentle, modest bearing had won him much esteem in the College”.
Charles Edward Townroe was active in civic and church matters. He was closely associated with St Alban’s Church, Sneinton, and was secretary of the Church Council and one of the trustees of the patronage; built in 1886-7, the church was Anglo-Catholic and said to be in the forefront in Nottingham of the Oxford Movement.
He was one of the original members of the House of Laity of the Church Assembly and was elected to represent the Southwell diocese in 1920. He was also a member of the Diocesan Board of Finance and several other committees, including Church Extension.
He was a manager of the Sneinton Church School, a governor of the Bluecoat School, a trustee of the Jelley Homes (alms-houses in Nottingham built in 1923-26), and chairman of the Nottingham Church Cemetery Company.
Charles Edward died on 1 March 1938. The Nottingham Journal recorded “The funeral of Mr Charles Edward Townroe, of 12 Park Terrace, a well-known churchman, took place on Saturday. A large congregation of mourners was present at Requiem Mass in St Alban’s Church, Sneinton, which preceded the interment at the Church Cemetery. The body had rested in the church overnight.” He was buried in the same family grave plot as his daughter.
Mary Dakeyne (Webster) Townroe was a gifted artist. After Charles’s death, she donated a number of pictures to Nottingham Art Gallery (which also owns a painting by her), including Industrial Scene by JW Carmichael and Hayfield near Trent Bath by James Lees Bilbie.
Mary moved away from Nottingham and in 1939 she was staying at the Albany Hotel in Hastings. In 1941 she was living at the vicarage in Sevenhampton, near Cheltenham, where she died on 20 February.
To the dear memory of Mary Dakeyne Townroe, daughter of Joseph Webster of Nottingham, widow of Charles Edward Townroe, died at Sevenhampton Vicarage on Feb 20th 1941 in her 92nd year. RIP
