As the commanding officer in the Orange River Colony, Townshend lived in Bloemfontein, where his wife caused a sensation by bringing French glamour and style to a place where the Afrikaans women dressed in a plain, modest style as befitting good Calvinists. Townshend's task in Blomfontein was much political as military as the British planned to unite the Transvaal, Orange River Colony, Natal and the Cape Colony into a new dominion to be called South Africa, and he had to help ensure that the defeated Boers were to accept being part of the British Empire. Promoted to brigadier general in 1909, and major-general in 1911, Townshend was appointed General Officer Commanding of the Home Counties Division (April–October 1912) and the East Anglian Division (October 1912–June 1913), Commander of 9th Jhansi Brigade in India (June 1913–April 1914), and Commander of the 4th Rawalpindi Brigade in India (April 1914–April 1915).