Cyril Townsend
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Sir Cyril Townsend |
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|---|---|
| Member of the United Kingdom Parliament for Bexleyheath |
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In office February 1974 – 1997 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 December 1937 Woking, England |
| Died | 20 November 2013 (aged 75) Chillaton, Devon, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party |
Conservative Liberal Democrats |
| Spouse(s) | Anita Walshe |
Sir Cyril David Townsend (21 December 1937 − 20 November 2013) was a British politician.
Townsend was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Bexleyheath at the February 1974 election, and held the seat until retiring at the 1997 election.
Townsend was born in Woking to Lois Henderson and Lieutenant Colonel Cyril Townsend. He was educated at Bradfield and Sandhurst.
He was commissioned in 1958 into the Durham Light Infantry. He served during the end of the Cyprus Emergency and in 1966 he fought in Malaysia in the confrontation with Indonesia. He was the Hong Kong Governor's aide-de-camp from 1964 to 1966, and in 1968, after two years serving as adjutant to the first battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, he left the army.
After joining the Conservative Party, Townsend was recruited as a personal assistant by Edward Heath, the party leader, in 1968. When the party returned to government in 1970 he became political secretary to the leader of the Greater London Council, Sir Desmond Plummer. In 1972 he was selected as the new Conservative candidate for Bexleyheath, whose predecessor constituency, Bexley, Edward Heath had left in favour of neighbouring Sidcup due to boundary changes. In February 1974 Townsend was elected with a majority of 3686 votes, despite his party being defeated overall and the seat being considered marginal.
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