Christopher Towneley (9 January 1604 – August 1674) was an English antiquarian from an old Roman Catholic,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

family. Often called ‘the Transcriber’, he spent much of his life researching local history and copying ancient documents.

Early life

Towneley was a younger son of Richard Towneley and Jane Ashton of

Towneley Hall Towneley Park is owned and managed by Burnley Borough Council and is the largest and most popular park in Burnley, Lancashire, England. The main entrance to the park is within a mile of the town centre and the park extends to the south east, co ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

, and was born there on 9 January 1604. His father died in 1628 and the Towneley Estate passed to Christopher's eldest brother, also called Richard. However this Richard also died, childless, in 1635. Another older brother, Charles, inherited, but he was killed during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, leading a small regiment for the Royalists at the

Battle of Marston Moor The Battle of Marston Moor was fought on 2 July 1644, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1639–1653. The combined forces of the English Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester and the Scottish Covenanters unde ...

in 1644. The Towneley Estate was confiscated by the Parliamentary sequestrators, but was recovered by Charles' son

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

by 1653, on payment of a large fine.

Career

Towneley trained as an attorney, but probably did not long follow his profession (there was only a brief period when the

recusancy Recusancy (from ) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign of Elizabeth I, and temporarily repea ...

laws did not prevent this), the greater part of his life being occupied in scientific and

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...

pursuits. Among his friends and correspondents were Jeremiah Horrox,

William Crabtree William Crabtree (1610 – 1644) was an English astronomer, mathematician, and merchant from Broughton, then in the Hundred of Salford, Lancashire, England. He was one of only two people to observe and record the first predicted transit of ...

William Gascoigne Sir William Gascoigne (c. 135017 December 1419) was Chief Justice of England during the reign of King Henry IV. Life and work Gascoigne (alternatively spelled Gascoyne) was a descendant of an ancient Yorkshire family. He was born in Gawthor ...

, Sir Jonas Moore, Jeremiah Shakerley, and

John Flamsteed John Flamsteed (19 August 1646 – 31 December 1719) was an English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal. His main achievements were the preparation of a 3,000-star catalogue, ''Catalogus Britannicus'', and a star atlas called '' Atlas ...

, astronomers and mathematicians;

Roger Dodsworth Roger Dodsworth (1585–1654) was an English antiquary. Life He was born at Newton Grange, Oswaldkirk, near Helmsley, Yorkshire, in the house of his maternal grandfather, Ralph Sandwith. He devoted himself early to antiquarian research, in whi ...

Sir William Dugdale Sir William Dugdale (12 September 1605 – 10 February 1686) was an English antiquary and herald. As a scholar he was influential in the development of medieval history as an academic subject. Life Dugdale was born at Shustoke, near Colesh ...

, and

John Hopkinson John Hopkinson, FRS, (27 July 1849 – 27 August 1898) was a British physicist, electrical engineer, Fellow of the Royal Society and President of the IEE (now the IET) twice in 1890 and 1896. He invented the three-wire (three-phase) system for ...

, antiquaries, and Sir Edward Sherburne, poet. In conjunction with Dr. Richard Kuerden, he projected, but never finished, a history of Lancashire. Many years were spent by him in transcribing ‘in a fair but singular hand’ public records, chartularies, and other evidences relating chiefly to Lancashire and Yorkshire. These transcripts were drawn upon by friends during his lifetime, and have since proved a valuable storehouse of materials for county historians and genealogists. The best description of them is given in the fourth report of the historical manuscripts commission (1874, pp. 406, 613). The collections, after remaining at Towneley for over two centuries, were dispersed by auction at

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

on 18–28 June 1883.

Personal life

As a young man he had lived at Hapton Tower, near

. In 1640, he married Alice, daughter of John Braddyll of Portfield, near Whalley. Alice was the widow of Richard Towneley of Carr Hall,

Barrowford Barrowford () is a village and civil parish in the Pendle district of Lancashire, England, north of Nelson, near the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Barrowford is on the Marsden–Gisburn–Long Preston turnpike. One of ...

, a distant relative of Christopher. On his marriage he moved to Carr Hall, where the couple lived until Alice's death in 1657. Towneley then changed his residence to Moor Isles in

Pendle Forest The Forest of Pendle is a hilly area to the east of Pendle Hill in eastern Lancashire, roughly defining the watershed between the River Ribble and its tributary the River Calder. The area is not a forest in the modern sense of being heavily wood ...

. He died in August 1674, and was buried at Burnley. In the inventory of his goods, taken after his death, his manuscripts, the labour of a lifetime, were valued at only 11

shillings The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence ...

(the equivalent of approximately £ as of ).

Notes

References

;Specific ;General {{DEFAULTSORT:Towneley, Christopher 1600s births 1674 deaths English Roman Catholics 17th-century English antiquarians People from Burnley People from Barrowford Towneley family