Portrait of George, 1st Marquess Townshend, half-length, in armour, with a mauve sash, holding a baton in his left hand, his left arm resting on a table

The sitter was the eldest son of Charles 3rd Viscount Townshend. He was Member of Parliament for Norfolk (1747) and served under King George II at the battles of Dettingen, Fontenoy and Culloden, and was later present at the siege of Quebec which surrendered to him, as Commander-in-Chief of the British forces after the death of General Wolfe, in 1750. He was later Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1767-72) and Governor of Jersey. He married, first, Lady Charlotte Compton, the only surviving child of James, 5th Earl of Northampton, with whom he had four sons and four daughters, and, second, Anne, daughter of Sir William Montgomery, Bt., of Magbie Hill, Peebleshire.

Townshend first sat to Reynolds, for a full-length portrait, in 1759 (E. Waterhouse, Reynolds, London, 1941, p. 46). He later sat to the artist again in 1767 (Mannings, op.cit., no. 1762). This portrait is a studio replica of the latter type. The sitter is shown with his baton as Commander-in-Chief.