to embitter matters, so that the English might desire this war and concur in it with good heart (despatch of Colbert de Croissy, Mignet, Négociations relatives à la Succession d'Espagne, iii. 655). Downing's great unpopularity in Holland was well known when he was chosen for this mission. ‘When the king named him for that employment, one of the council said, “The rabble will tear him in pieces;” upon which the king smiled and said, “Well, I will venture him”’ (Temple, iii. 506). After about three months' negotiations Downing suddenly left the Hague, fearing the fury of the mob (Pontalis, De Witt, ii. 136–40). On reaching England he was sent to the Tower (7 Feb. 1672) for leaving his post contrary to the king's direct orders, but was released before the end of March (Hatton Correspondence, i. 78, 82; London Gazette, 5–8 Feb. 1672). In the House of Commons in 1672 he defended the royal declaration of indulgence, and in 1673 spoke against the condemnation of Lord Arlington (Grey, Debates, ii. 18, 314). In a tract published in 1677, and often attributed to Marvell, Downing is said to have received at least 80,000l. by the king's favour, and described as ‘the house-bell to call the courtiers to vote’ (A Seasonable Argument to persuade all the Grand Juries in England to Petition for a New Parliament, p. 14). In the second, third, and fourth parliaments of Charles II Downing represented Morpeth, but seems to have taken henceforth very little part in public affairs. In February 1682–3 he was removed from his commissionership of the customs, and in July 1684 he is mentioned as lately dead (Luttrell, Diary, i. 251, 313). The baronetcy became extinct in 1764 (Burke, Extinct Baronetage). Downing Street, Whitehall, derives its name from Sir George (Cunningham, Handbook of London, ed. 1850, p. 160); Downing College, Cambridge, from Sir George Downing [q. v.], grandson of this Sir George.
Downing's abilities are proved by his career, but his reputation was stained by servility, treachery, and avarice, and it is difficult to find a good word for him in any contemporary author. Pepys tells an amusing story of his niggardly habits (27 Feb. 1667), and Downing's mother complains of the meagre starvation pittance which her son allowed her when he himself was rich and buying lands (Sibley, p. 37). An American author says: ‘It became a proverbial expression with his countrymen in New England to say of a false man who betrayed his trust that he was an arrant George Downing’ (Hutchinson, apud Sibley, p. 72). Colbert de Croissy, in a letter to Louvois, terms him ‘le plus grand querelleur des diplomates de son temps’ (Pontalis, ii. 136), and Wicquefort describes him as one of the most dishonest (ib. i. 247).
A list of publications bearing Downing's name, mostly declarations and manifestoes in the Dutch language, is given by Sibley. In English are: 1. ‘A Reply to the Remarks of the Deputies of the States-General upon Sir G. Downing's Memorial of 20 Dec. 1664,’ 4to, London, 1665. 2. ‘A Discourse written by Sir G. Downing … vindicating his Royal Master from the Insolencies of a Scandalous Libel,’ &c. London, 12mo, 1672.
[Sibley's Biographical Notices of Harvard Graduates, i. 28–53, 383; Cal. of State Papers, Dom.; Thurloe Papers; Diary of Thomas Burton, 1828; Lister's Life of Clarendon, 1838; Life of the Earl of Clarendon, ed. 1849; Ludlow's Memoirs, ed. 1751; Debates of the House of Commons, collected by Anchitell Grey, 1763; Pontalis's Jean de Witt, 1884; Diary of Samuel Pepys.]
DOWNING, Sir GEORGE (1684?–1749), founder of Downing College, the only son of Sir George Downing, bart., of East Hatley, Cambridgeshire, by his marriage with Catherine, eldest daughter of James, third earl of Salisbury, and grandson of Sir George Downing, knight and baronet [q. v.], was born in or about 1684. Four years later (13 Aug. 1688) he lost his mother, and his father being of weak intellect, he was brought up chiefly by his uncle, Sir William Forester, knt., of Dothill, near Wellington, Shropshire, who had married Mary, third daughter of Lord Salisbury (Collins, Peerage, ed. Brydges, ii. 493; Wotton, Baronetage, ed. 1727, ii. 393). In February 1700 this uncle took the opportunity of secretly marrying Downing, then a lad of fifteen, to his eldest daughter, Mary, who had just attained her thirteenth year. Soon afterwards Downing went abroad, and on returning home, after about three years' absence, refused either to live with or acknowledge his wife. The subsequent history of the marriage may be read in the ‘Lords' Journals,’ vol. xx. Downing succeeded as third baronet in 1711. He represented the pocket borough of Dunwich, Suffolk, in the parliaments of 1710 and 1713, but lost the election of 1714–15. In 1722, however, he was again returned, and retained the seat until his death (Lists of Members of Parliament, Official Return, pt. ii. pp. 24, 33, 44, 55). Beyond steadily voting for his party he took no prominent part in politics. At the recommendation of Walpole he was created a knight of the Bath, 30 June 1732 (London Gazette, 4–8 July 1732, No. 7106).
