Joseph Townsend (April 4, 1739 – November 9, 1816) was a physician, geologist and vicar of Pewsey in Wiltshire, perhaps best known for his 1786 treatise A Dissertation on the Poor Laws in which he expounded a naturalistic theory of economics and opposed the provision of 'outdoor' relief to the able bodied poor under English Poor Laws thus anticipating the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834.
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Although he accepted Smith's stratigraphy he rejected his support of James Hutton's 'uniformitarian' geology.
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He married Ann Townsend (?-1817) daughter of Joseph Townsend of Honington, Warwickshire.