Stephen Townesend (surgeon)

Stephen Chapman Townesend[lower-alpha 1] (1860 – May 1914) F.R.C.S. was an English surgeon, stage actor, anti-vivisectionist and writer.

Stephen Townesend
Born1860
DiedMay 1914
Colney Heath
Occupation(s)Surgeon, writer

Townesend was educated at St Bartholomew's Hospital and the University of Edinburgh.[1] He qualified M.R.C.S. in 1883 and F.R.C.S. in 1887. He was surgeon on the Orient Steamship Company's line, house surgeon at St Mark's Hospital and at Birmingham General Hospital.[1] Townesend was a stage actor under the name Will Dennis and assisted the Amateur Dramatic Society of St Bartholomew's Hospital.[1][2]

In 1900, he married Frances Hodgson Burnett in Genoa.[3] He was involved with the stage adaptations of her novels. They divorced two years later.[4] Townesend was an anti-vivisectionist who was described as loving animals more than people.[5]

Townesend died in Colney Heath from pneumonia in May 1914.[1][6]

Selected publications

Notes
  1. His second name has also been cited as Townsend

References
  1. "Townesend, Stephen Chapman (1860 - 1914)". Royal College of Surgeons of England. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  2. "Who Was Who. v.1 (1897/1916)". p. 712
  3. "Stephen Townsend Weds Mrs. Burnett". San Francisco Call, Volume 87, Number 105, 15 March 1900.
  4. Gerzina, Gretchen (2004), Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Unexpected Life of the Author of The Secret Garden. Rutgers University Press. p. 229. ISBN 0-8135-3382-1
  5. "Up The Garden Path". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  6. "Stephen Townesend Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
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