John Jones after Sir Jsohua Renolds.

The Right Honourable Lord John Townshend

14 x 19¾ inches

The year is 1789 and across the Channel France is in political and social turmoil as revolution grips every aspect of society. In contrast we have an English politician, John Townshend, who could not be less incendiary. Is he looking nervously over his right shoulder as events unfold in Paris? We suspect not as by all accounts Townshend was something of a political lightweight, tetchy and excitable, a great mimic and, above all, a fervent supporter of the Whigs and their leader Charles James Fox. Such was his loyalty to Fox as friend and confidante that he named his first-born son Charles Fox Townshend! Poor parliamentary attendance, bouts of erratic behaviour and increasingly ill health meant that he remained on the periphery of political power but a Whig to the end.