# Stuart Townend (headmaster)

Lieutenant-Colonel H. Stuart Townend OBE MA (24 April 1909 – 26 October 2002) was a British military officer, athlete, headmaster, and politician. Townend was the first headmaster to educate an heir to the British throne, having founded Hill House School in 1951.

## Early life

Born at Shrawardine, Shropshire, the son of a Church of England clergyman, the Rev. F. W. Townend, later of Tilney St Lawrence, Townend was educated at St Edmund's School, Canterbury, Brasenose College, Oxford and the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

## Sporting career

Townend went up to Oxford in 1928, where he became president of the Oxford University Athletic Club and winner of six Oxford University blues. In 1930 he won a gold medal at the British Empire Games in Hamilton, Ontario, in the 4x440 yard relay. Townend finished second behind Tommy Hampson in the 880 yards event at the 1931 AAA Championships.

## Professional career

After university, Townend joined the Royal Artillery in 1931. He was commissioned in 1933 and held the appointment of Assistant Quartermaster general during the war. He served in north-west Europe and India. He attained the appointment of Assistant Adjutant-General, World Wide Air Movements at the War Office. He retired from the army in 1947 to become housing chairman of the London Olympics, organising the accommodation at short notice for the athletes and officials attending the event to be held the following year. There was no time or money to build athletes’ villages, and 3500 of the athletes and sportsmen were put in three camps in Richmond Park, Uxbridge and High Wycombe. The remainder and all the officials were put up in 41 schools and colleges across London. As a reward for his efforts, he was given an OBE in 1949. He was director-general of the Hotels and Restaurants Association. He was a director of an international publishing company and of an international school in Switzerland and a director and founder of the Anglo-Swiss Society of Great Britain. He founded Hill House School, in Knightsbridge, London in 1951 with his wife. In 1956 Prince Charles attended the school as pupil. It was the first time an heir to the British throne had been sent to school, as opposed to being educated by private tutors. Townend championed a "stripped down to basics" approach to independent education that enabled him to keep his fees among the lowest in the country. He continued to run the school until his death in 2002 aged 93. At that time it was reportedly the world's largest private junior school with over 1100 pupils.

## Political career

He was for 10 years a member of Paddington Borough Council. He was the Liberal Party candidate for the Torquay division of Devon at the 1950 General Election, and subsequently for the Falmouth and Camborne division of Cornwall at the 1951 General Election.
General Election 1950: Torquay :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Charles Williams | 29,153 | 53.6 | +4.7 |
| | Labour | Robert Briscoe | 14,287 | 26.2 | +0.1 |
| | Liberal | Henry Stuart Townend | 10,987 | 20.2 | −4.8 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 14,866 | 27.3 | +4.6 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 82.8 | +11.4 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | +2.3 | |
General Election 1951: Falmouth & Camborne :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Frank Harold Hayman | 20,850 | 46.3 | +3.1 |
| | Conservative | Nigel Nicolson | 19,847 | 44.1 | +5.4 |
| | Liberal | Henry Stuart Townend | 4,343 | 9.6 | −8.5 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,003 | 2.2 | −2.3 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 83.6 | +1.0 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | -1.1 | |
He did not stand for parliament again. He later left the Liberal Party and joined the Conservatives. In 1958 he was elected to the London County Council as a member for Chelsea. He served two terms before standing down in 1965.