Athlete, headmaster and politician. Born Henry Stewart Townend. In his youth he participated in athletics, and was a schoolboy hockey international.
Retired from the army, as Lieutenant-Colonel, in 1947 to become housing chairman of the 1948 London Olympics, organising the accommodation at short notice for the athletes and officials attending the event to be held the following year. There was no time or money to build athletes’ villages, and 3,500 of the athletes and sportsmen were put in three camps in Richmond Park, Uxbridge and High Wycombe. The remainder and all the officials were put up in 41 schools and colleges across London. His achievements earnt him an OBE.
He served on Paddington Borough Council and unsuccessfully stood as a Liberal candidate in the 1950 and 1951 general elections.
Part of his university education had been in Switzerland where he studied languages, mountaineering and skiing. After the Olympics he set up his own school in Switzerland to teach mountain sports to English children in their holidays. When his political ambitions failed his wife suggested they set up Hill House School in Knightsbridge, which they did in 1951 and he was headmaster until his death aged 93.
He founded the Anglo-Swiss Society of Great Britain and was director of the Hotels and Restaurants Association and of an international publishing company. We don't know if he was involved in the setting up of this Cantonal Tree.
Sources include his and the which suggests he was quite a character: 12 cups of Ovaltine a day, with five lumps of sugar in each!
Henry Stewart Townend was born on 24 April 1909 in Shrawardine, Shropshire, the third child of Frederick William Townend (1873-1915) and Florence Stewart Townend née Henry (1871-1963). His birth was registered as Henry Stewart Townend in the 2nd quarter of 1909 in the Atcham Registration District, Shropshire,
When his father completed the census return form on 2 April 1911, he was shown as Henry Stewart Townend, aged 1 year and living in an 11 roomed property at The Parsonage, Antioch Field, Tilney St Lawrence, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, with his parents and two siblings: Patricia Margarette Townend (1904-1940) and Noel Alexander Fortescue Townend (1906-2003). His father described himself as a clerk in holy orders of the established church.
The census that was compiled on 19 June 1921 shows him as Henry S. Townend, aged 12 years, 1 month, and a whole time student boarding at St Edmund's School, St Thomas Hill, Canterbury, Kent. He obtained his Master of Arts degree (M.A.) at Brasenose College, Oxford.
He married Beatrice May Lord in the 4th quarter of 1936 in the Kensington Registration District, London.
The electoral register for 1937 lists him as Henry Stuart Townend and together with his wife occupying the Ground Floor, 9 Hornton Street, Kensington, but the registers for 1938 and 1939 show them both at Flat 4, 105 Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London.
In the England and Wales Register that was compiled on 29 September 1939 he was listed as Henry S. Townend and his date of birth was confirmed as 24 April 1909. He was shown as the General Secretary of The Hotels and Restaurants Association of Great Britain. He was living at No.1 Cottage, The Little Rest, Heatherside Drive, Virginia Water, Surrey, with his wife and his mother-in-law - Lizzie May Lord (1883-1976), together with a female housekeeper.
The birth of their son, Richard F. S. Townend, was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1942 in the Leicester Registration District, Leicestershire.
The shows that he was made an Ordinary Officer of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) for services to the Olympic Games Organisation in the New Year Honours List.
Electoral registers from 1948 to 1952 list him as Henry Stuart Townend who together with wife were at Flat 3, 100 Lancaster Gate, London, W2. From 1954 to 1958 he was shown as Henry S. Townend and was listed with his wife at 17 Hans Place, London, SW1 and from 1959 to 1961 at 16/17 Hans Place, London. From 1962 to 1965 they were listed at 16 Hans Place, London and from 1966 to 1972 they continued to be listed there together with their son.
He died, aged 93 years, on 26 October 2002, his death being registered in the Westminster Registration District, Greater London.
He is shown as H. Stuart Townend on the Hill House School - Founders' Hall memorial at 2 Radnor Walk, London, W2.
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk and Andrew Behan.
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