John Townshend may refer to:Sir John Townshend (1560s–1603), MP and soldier, ancestor of the Marquesses Townshend, killed in a duel Lord John Townshend (1757–1833), British Whig politician, MP for Cambridge University, Westminster and Knaresborough John Townshend, 4th Marquess Townshend (1798–1863), his son, British naval commander John Townshend, 5th Marquess Townshend (1831–1899), his son, British peer and Liberal MP for Tamworth, 1856–1863 John Townshend, 6th Marquess Townshend (1866–1921), his son, British peer John Townshend, 2nd Viscount Sydney (1764–1831), British peer John Townshend, 1st Earl Sydney (1805–1890), his son, MP for Whitchurch, 1826–1831, Lord Chamberlain and Lord Steward John Townshend (cook), author of The Universal Cook