George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend
George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend PC (February 28, 1724 - September 14, 1807) was a British soldier and reached the rank of field marshal.
Townshend served as a brigadier in Quebec, under General James Wolfe; when the latter died, and his second-in-command (Robert Monckton) was wounded, Townshend took command of the British forces during the siege of Quebec. He received Quebec City's surrender on September 18, 1759. However, he held Gen. Wolfe in much contempt, and was harshly criticized upon his return to Great Britain for that reason (Wolfe was a popular hero throughout the country). Nonetheless, Townshend became a field marshal on July 30, 1796.
On 2 February 1773 he fought a duel with Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont, badly wounding the Earl with a bullet in the groin.
Townshend married Lady Charlotte Compton, daughter of James Compton, 5th Earl of Northampton , on 19 December 1751. They had one son, James Townshend, the father of John Townshend, 4th Marquess Townshend. The Marquess also had a daughter, Lady Charlotte Townshend, by his mistress, Anne Montgomery, the daughter of Sir William Montgomery, 1st Baronet. Lady Charlotte married the Duke of Leeds and had three children.