Townsend was born in Exeter on December 1, 1815.[1]
Ordained in England in 1842, Townsend set off for Sierra Leone with Charles Andrew Gollmer and Samuel Ajayi Crowther,[2] landing there that same year; after working there only a few months, he was transferred to the Yoruba mission.[1] He returned to England for a year, then travelled to Abeokuta in Nigeria.
From 1846 to 1867, he based his mission in Abeokuta. Thomas Birch Freeman was actually the first European to enter Abeokuta. He arrived there on 11 December 1843. When he returned to Badagry on 24 December, he met Rev. Henry Townsend and they celebrated Christmas Day together sharing the Gospel in Badagry. According to Ajisafe, he was the first European person to enter Abeokuta, arriving there on 4 January 1843 and was 'given a grand reception' (Ajisafe 1924: 85).
Working with Samuel Crowther, a Yoruba Anglican priest, Townsend wrote several hymns in Yoruba and aided in the compilation of Crowther's Yoruba primer.[3][4] Townsend was against Crowther, a native Yoruba, becoming a bishop.[5][6]
Townsend published a Yoruba newspaper called 'Iwe-Irohin' in 1859.[a][1] This is said to have started off the print media in Nigeria, as the newspaper was the bilingual paper in Nigeria.[4] The paper used 8 years before it demise.
In 1862, he opened an orphanage[7] and several trade schools.[1]
Freeman, Thomas Birch, Journal of Various Visits to the Kingdoms of Ashanti, Aku, and Dahomi in Western Africa,Third Edition Frank Cass and Co.Ltd. 1968 pp. 223-236
