Francis Towneley

Francis Towneley (9 June 1709 – 30 July 1746) was an English Catholic and supporter of the exiled House of Stuart or Jacobite. After service with the French army from 1728 to 1734, he returned to England and took part in the Jacobite Rising of 1745. He was appointed colonel of the Manchester Regiment, the only significant English formation to take part in the rebellion. Captured at Carlisle in December 1745, he was convicted of treason and executed at Kennington Common, London in July 1746. Early life Francis Towneley was born on 9 June 1709, fifth and youngest surviving child of Ursula, daughter of Phillip Fermor of Tusmore, Oxfordshire, and Charles Towneley of Towneley Hall, Burnley, Lancashire. He had three brothers, Richard (1689-1735), John (1696-1782) and George, as well as a sister, Mary (1686-1712). The Towneleys were prominent members of the Roman Catholic minority in Lancashire and their private chapel served as the focus of Catholic worship in the area until the building of a public church in 1846. Towneley Hall was occupied by Parliamentary forces during the First English Civil War; Charles Towneley (1604-1644) raised a Royalist infantry regiment and was killed at Marston Moor in 1644.