 All the children of this union were declared illegitimate by a private Act of Parliament in 1843.Dunn Gardner, who had styled himself "Earl of Leicester" (the courtesy title used by the heir apparent to the marquessate of Townshend) before his election to parliament, then assumed his mother's maiden name of Dunn Gardner.He was Member of Parliament from 1841 to 1847, elected to represent Bodmin as a Conservative.