Barbara Anne Townshend (1781–1816) was born to a family of Cheshire landed gentry, daughter of Edward Townshend (1737–1811) of Wincham and Antrobus, and his wife, Anne Baldwin. She had five sisters and one brother.
Townshend was never a commercial profilist but was a silhouette cutter of consummate skill. In 1805 she gifted a scrapbook of silhouettes to her god-daughter Harriet Brooke (1800–1875), who lived at Haughton Hall, Shifnal. In 1808 Townshend authored and illustrated an instructional book, 'Introduction to the Art of Cutting Groups of Figures, Flowers, Birds, &c. in Black Paper', which contained aquatint engravings by M. Dubourg after silhouettes cut by her, published by Edward Orme. Single sheets were originally offered for sale at 1s each. The book was reprinted in 1815, and again in 1836, twenty years after her death, with a new publisher and new title, 'Sybil-Leaves or Drawing Room Scraps'. It is possible that further editions appeared before the 1836 edition. The enduring popularity of her book is a testament to her significant place in the history of cut paper art.
Barbara Townshend died a spinster at Stanley Place in Chester in 1816, aged just thirty-four.
Examples of her silhouettes from her publication reproduced in aquatint can be seen in the Wellcome Collection.
