Townend served in the First World War, travelling with the Indian Expeditionary Force and arriving in France in October 1914. In the same month he was also promoted to captain. Upon his arrival in France, he was attached to the 35th Divisional Signals Company, followed by attachment to the Dehra Dun Brigade, serving with the latter in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915. Later that month he was laying telephone lines at Béthune, when he was seriously wounded when a German shell exploded nearby. He was taken to hospital "conscious and perfectly collected", but succumbed to his wounds shortly after. Townend was buried at the Béthune Town Cemetery. He was posthumously mentioned in dispatches by Field Marshal Sir John French in June 1915.