John Townshend, 2nd Viscount Sydney

John Thomas Townshend, 2nd Viscount Sydney of St Leonards (21 February 1764 – 20 January 1831) was a British peer and Member of Parliament.

Early life Townshend was born on 21 February 1764. He was the eldest son of twelve children born to Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney of St Leonards and the former Elizabeth Powys (1736–1826). His mother was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte. Two of his brothers were also Members of Parliament, the Hon. Horatio George Powys Townshend and the Hon. William Augustus Townshend. Townshend supported Pitt's administration, voting for his assessed taxes on 4 January 1798, and acting as ministerial teller on 20 June 1798. During his tenure, "he is not known to have uttered a syllable in the House." Mary Elizabeth Sydney (1794–1847), who married George James Cholmondeley (1752–1830), the son of Mary Woffington. After his death, she married Charles Marsham, 2nd Earl of Romney.

He married a second time, to Lady Caroline Elizabeth Letitia Clements on 27 Mat 1802. Lady Caroline was the third daughter of Robert Clements, 1st Earl of Leitrim and the former Lady Elizabeth Skeffington (the eldest daughter, by his second wife, of Clotworthy Skeffington, 1st Earl of Massereene). Before her death on 9 August 1805, they were the parents of one child together:

John Robert Townshend, 1st Earl Sydney (1805–1890), who married Lady Emily Paget (1810–1893), eldest daughter of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey.

Sydney died on 20 January 1831. His death was viewed by the family "as a great release from hopeless suffering". His titles and estate was inherited by his only son, John, who was created the first Earl Sydney, of Scadbury in the County of Kent on 27 February 1874. As John and his wife had no children, the Earldom, Viscountcy and Barony of Sydney became extinct on his death on 14 February 1890.