Charles Townshend was Secretary of State for the Northern Department (Northern Secretary) from 1714 to 1716 and from 1721 to 1730. He was also Lord President of the Council from 1720 to 1721. After retiring in 1730 he passed his remaining years at his ancestral seat of Raynham Hall, in Norfolk, where he interested himself in agriculture. He promoted adoption of the Norfolk four course system, involving rotation of turnips, barley, clover and wheat crops. He was an enthusiastic advocate of growing turnips as a field crop, for livestock feed. He is regarded, along with Jethro Tull, as one of the leaders of the Agricultural Revolution.
(In 1782, the Northern Office was renamed the Home Office and the position of Northern Secretary was renamed Secretary of State for the Home Office – or Home Secretary.)
© Haydn Thompson 2017