Post-war
After the war, he resigned from the army in 1920 and wrote a book My Campaign in Mesopotamia (1920). He stood as an Independent Conservative candidate in a by-election in Shropshire and was elected to a term in Parliament as Member of Parliament (MP) for The Wrekin (1920–1922). However, as reports surfaced about how badly his troops had suffered at the hands of the Turks (more than half of the soldiers who surrendered died in Turkish captivity, many of them actually murdered by their captors), his reputation lost all its lustre. Military experts attacked him for not beating the Ottomans at Ctesiphon, for his passivity during the siege of Kut, and for his inaccurate reports (claiming rations were running low) which lead to the hasty first relief expedition. He died in disgrace in 1924.
When his will was published in 1924, Townshend's worldly wealth at the time of his death was found to have amounted to a mere £119.
Read more about this topic: Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend
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