Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend, KCB, DSO (21 February 1861 – 18 May 1924) was a British soldier who during the First World War led an overreaching military campaign in Mesopotamia. His troops were besieged and captured at the Siege of Kut (December 1915 to April 1916), which was possibly the worst defeat suffered by the Allies.