Sir George Downing, 3rd Baronet

Sir George Downing, 3rd Baronet, KB (1685–1749) was a politician and, through a donation in his will, the founder of Downing College, Cambridge.[1]

The son of Sir George Downing, 2nd Baronet, he was a Member of Parliament for the pocket borough of Dunwich, Suffolk in the parliaments of 1710 and 1713. He lost the 1715 election but, with the aid of a 99-year lease from George I for the borough, regained the seat in 1722. He held the seat from that time until his death.[1]

He was an uninspiring politician, but remained loyal to the ministries of Robert Walpole and subsequently Henry Pelham. In 1732, as a result of his loyalty, he was created a Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath.[1]

Upon his death, his title passed to his cousin, Sir Jacob Downing, 4th Baronet, with his will providing that if his line should die out, his fortune should be used to found a college at Cambridge University. Sir Jacob Downing died childless in 1764, but his widow, Lady Downing, argued that Downing's fortune should pass to her.[2] This case was tied up in litigation for decades before the courts finally ordered that the fortune should be used to found a college at Cambridge, which occurred with the founding of Downing College, Cambridge in 1800.[3]

References

• 1.^ a b c Gordon Goodwin, ‘Downing, Sir George, third baronet (1685–1749)’, rev. Philip Carter, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
• 2.^ John Burke, A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain, Vol. IV, p. 299
• 3.^ John Burke, A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain, Vol. IV, p. 299
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_George_Downing,_3rd_Baronet
• __________________________
• 'Genealogical gleanings in England (1901) Vol. 1
• http://www.archive.org/details/genealogicalglea01byuwate
• http://www.archive.org/stream/genealogicalglea01byuwate#page/36/mod...
• ' The will of Sir George Downing, Knight of the Bath & Baronet, providing (in default of male issue to his cousin) for the foundation of a new college in the University of Cambridge, "which college shall be called by the name of Downing College," was dated 20 December, 1717, and proved 13 June, 1749. Lisle, 179.
• [The foregoing extracts show clearly enough the connection of this family with New England, a family whose name, associated as it is with a street in which has been, for so many years, the official residence of the Prime Minister of England, the centre of the greatest and most wide-spread empire of modern times, and with a college in one of the most famous universities of the world, is known wherever the English language is spoken, and bids fair to last so long as English history shall be read.
• ________________________________