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Sir Simon Peter Edmund Cosmo William Towneley KCVO KCSG JP (né Koch de Gooreynd; 14 December 1921 – 11 November 2022) was a British author who served as Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire from 1976 to 1997.

Early life and education

Towneley was born in St George Hanover Square, London, on 14 December 1921, as the elder son of a British father of Belgian stock, Alexander Louis Wynand Koch de Gooreynd, and a British-Belgian mother, Priscilla Reyntiens. His mother was the daughter of Lady Alice Josephine, second daughter of Montagu Bertie, 7th Earl of Abingdon, and Maj. Robert Reyntiens [nl], a member of the International Olympic Committee.

The family name was changed to Worsthorne and he later changed it to Towneley Worsthorne and finally Towneley by deed poll, on 28 May 1955. His younger brother was Sir Peregrine Worsthorne, the journalist. The brothers were brought up as Roman Catholics, but did not attend denominational schools. He was educated at Stowe School and Worcester College, Oxford.

Career

During the Second World War, Worsthorne served in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, receiving a commission as a second lieutenant in December 1942.

In 1954 (under the name Simon Towneley Worsthorne) he published Venetian Opera in the 17th Century, a seminal study of the field, which played a significant role in the remarkable revival of the Venetian opera repertory in the latter 20th century.

Honours

Towneley was appointed High Sheriff of Lancashire for 1971 and Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire from 1976 to 1996.

Towneley was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in the 1994 New Year Honours.

Personal life

Towneley married his second cousin Mary Fitzherbert, the third of six children of Cuthbert Fitzherbert, from a well-off recusant English Roman Catholic family. She was a keen endurance equestrian, repeating Dick Turpin's ride from London to York and opening up what became known as the Mary Towneley Loop on the Pennine Bridleway. Lady Towneley died in 2001 from cancer, at the age of 65. The couple had seven children; one son and six daughters including the author K. M. Grant and Conservative politician Cosima Towneley.

Death

Towneley died on 11 November 2022, at the age of 100 at Dyneley Hall in Cliviger.

Footnotes

1. ^ Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 3922. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
2. "Simon Peter Edmund Cosmo William KOCH De GOOREYND". authorandbookinfo. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
3. "No. 40523". The London Gazette. 28 June 1955. p. 3761.
4. Mosley 2003, p. 2350
5. "No. 35893". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 February 1943. p. 699.
6. "No. 53527". The London Gazette. 30 December 1993. p. 4.
7. Obituary: Lady Towneley, Daily Telegraph, March 2001
8. "Tributes to former High Sheriff and Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire Sir Simon Towneley who has died aged 100". Lancashire Post. 15 November 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.

References

• Koch de Gooreynd, William Julien Maurice (1853–1919), first published Sept 2004, 940 words (subscription required)

• United Kingdom
• Biography
• Lancashire

• 1921 births
• 2022 deaths
• People educated at Stowe School
• Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford
• Bertie family
• English people of Belgian descent
• English people of Dutch descent
• Schuyler family
• English Roman Catholics
• Lord-Lieutenants of Lancashire
• High Sheriffs of Lancashire
• Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
• British Army personnel of World War II
• King's Royal Rifle Corps officers
• English justices of the peace
• English centenarians
• Men centenarians
• Towneley family