James Townsend (1737 – 1 July 1787) was a British Whig politician who served as the Lord Mayor of London in 1772. He was Britain's first member of parliament of partial Black African descent.
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Life and political career
James Townsend was baptised on 8 February 1737 at the church of St. Christopher-le-Stocks in London. He was the son of London merchant (and later MP) Chauncy Townsend and his wife Bridget Phipps. He attended Hertford College, Oxford in 1756.
In politics James Townsend was closely linked from the 1760s with the Whig grandee William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne. Supported by Shelburne, he entered Parliament as Member for West Looe at a by-election in 1767, holding the seat until 1774.
In 1769, Townsend was elected alderman of the City of London for Bishopsgate ward and Sheriff of the City of London, becoming one of the leaders of the Whigs in London. In 1771 Townsend followed John Horne Tooke in breaking away from the Society of Gentlemen Supporters of the Bill of Rights, which had been created to support John Wilkes after his expulsion from the House of Commons, and of which Townsend was a co-founder. He turned from a friend of Wilkes's to one of his fiercest opponents.
Townsend was elected Lord Mayor of London in 1772. Wilkes had come first in the polls but Sheriff Richard Oliver manipulated the voting process to prevent the election of Wilkes. This created political turmoil in the City and a mob incensed by Townsend's coup rioted outside Guildhall during the ball on Lord Mayor's Day. Townsend's arms were erased from the church of St Helen's Bishopsgate. John Wilkes was eventually elected Lord Mayor in 1774.