Richard Townsend

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Linda Bowen on 27th July 2019

Richard Townsend carried out a much bigger crime in later life. He was born in 1820 in Harwell, Berkshire, England. He married Ann Paice in 1843 in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, when his occupation was Railway Porter. On 2nd January 1844, aged 23, at Gloucester Quarter Session he was found guilty of Larceny by Servant, for stealing Woollen Cloth, and sentenced to 7 years transportation to Van Diemen’s Land. Later that year his wife gave birth to their daughter, Mary. By the 1861 UK census, he had returned to England and with his wife Ann and daughter Mary had moved from Cirencester to Spark Penny Lane, Waterside, Dartford, Kent. His occupation was Porter in S E Railway, and he and Ann had four more children, all born in Dartford. In the 1871 UK census he and Ann, aged 50 and 51, and four of their children were at 85 Waterside Road, Dartford. His occupation was Labourer in an Iron Works. In the 1881 UK census he and Ann were at 85, Hythe Street, Dartford and he was a night watchman at a paper mill. Ann died in 1885, and on 2nd April 1887 Richard married a widow Rose (Rosina) Barnes at Greenwich, Kent. The marriage was not a happy one and Rose left him to live in another part of Dartford. Richard was reportedly very aggrieved about this, and on 22nd September 1888 was charged with assaulting Rose in Dartford and bound over to Keep the Peace for 6 months. However, he continued to feel his wife had treated him wrongly and the following year he went on to murder her! Numerous newspaper articles show Richard (aged 68) cut his wife (aged 54) Rosina's throat in the High Street, Dartford, on 27th June 1889. Rose was chatting with her sister and two other women when Richard came up, caught hold of her neck as if he was to kiss her, but stabbed her in the neck with a pocket-knife. She died within a few minutes. When arrested he admitted to killing her and said he didn’t mean to and was very sorry. He was imprisoned and on 2nd July 1889 was tried at Maidstone Assizes for the wilful murder of Rosina. The verdict of the jury was guilty, but with a recommendation for mercy on account of his age. Richard was sentenced to be hanged by the neck until he is dead. Later newspaper articles show he was reprieved from the death sentence while at Maidstone prison. Richard was sent to Parkhurst Prison, Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight, where he died a natural death on 22nd May 1893, aged 71.