John Townsend may refer to:
- John Townsend (author) (born 1956), American psychologist and author
- John Townsend (basketball) (1916–2001), American basketball player
- John Townsend (British politician) (1819–1892), British politician and member of Parliament for Greenwich
- John Townsend (MP for Warwick), English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1597 to 1614
- John Townsend (footballer) (born 1943), Australian rules footballer
- John Townsend (Irish politician) (1737–1810), Irish MP for Dingle, Doneraile and Castlemartyr
- John Townsend (Mayor) (1783–1854), 37th mayor of Albany, NY
- John Townsend (New York City) (1789–1863), New York politician
- John Townsend (Norwich) (1608–1668), early settler of the American colonies
- John Townsend (Wisconsin politician) (born 1938), Wisconsin politician
- John G. Townsend, Jr. (1871–1964), American businessman and politician, governor and senator from Delaware
- John Kirk Townsend (1809–1851), American naturalist
- John P. Townsend (1832–1898), American financier
- John Rowe Townsend (born 1922), British children's author
- John Sealy Townsend (1868–1957), Irish physicist
- John Selby Townsend (1824–1892), American Democrat legislator and jurist from Iowa
Famous quotes containing the words john and/or townsend:
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
—Bible: New Testament Matthew, 3:17.
A “voice from heaven,” following the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.
“There are some women ... in whom conscience is so strongly developed that it leaves little room for anything else. Love is scarcely felt before duty rushes to encase it, anger impossible because one must always be calm and see both sides, pity evaporates in expedients, even grief is felt as a sort of bruised sense of injury, a resentment that one should have grief forced upon one when one has always acted for the best.”
—Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893–1978)