 William Dunn-Gardner apparently devised the estate by name to ensure that his grandson would not be disinherited by any future legal steps taken by the Townshend family, which in fact happened in 1842.Soham Mere was given to the second brother William Dunn-Gardner, of Fordham Abbey, and descended in the family until 1974 when it was sold to the present owner.Sarah, Lady Townshend, and John Margetts had several children who bore their father's name until 26 December 1823, when there was a wholesale christening under the Townshend name, but they were all declared illegitimate by a private Act of Parliament brought in 1842 and passed the next year.