George Townshend (1876–1957) was born in Ireland and was a well-known writer and Anglican clergyman who converted to the Baháʼí Faith at age 70. In 1918, Townshend started correspondence with ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and then adopted the Baháʼí teachings within his work as an Anglican clergyman, including his writing of two books, The Heart of the Gospel and The Promise of All Ages. This created increasing tensions between Townshend and other clergy and eventually caused Shoghi Effendi to call for Townshend to resign as a Canon of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Townshend was one of the founding members of the Dublin Local Spiritual Assembly and in 1951 was designated by Shoghi Effendi as a Hand of the Cause of God. With this designation he rendered many services to the religion, mainly in the area of writing, as Shoghi Effendi thought of him as "the best writer we have ... the pre-eminent Baháʼí writer".