George Downing I (1624 – 1684)
Research on
the Internet, in books and archives revealed that George
Downing was a 17th century politician, diplomat, spy who amassed as
great fortune. He
was born in Dublin in 1624, the son of Emmanuel Downing who studied at Queen’s
College, Cambridge and who went on to become a barrister in the Inner Temple,
and his second wife, Lucy Winthrop, the sister of the Puritan John Winthrop, Governor
of the British colony in Massachusetts in North America. His grandfather,
George Downing, from Beccles in Suffolk, also studied at Queens and was the
headmaster of Ipswich Grammar School during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
When
George was fourteen he sailed with his Puritan family to America and settled in
Salem where his father practiced law. He was 18 when the English Civil War
broke out and, as the second graduate of Harvard College, got a job on the
educational staff. Described
by his grandfather as “a very able scholar, and of a
ready wit and fluent utterance” Downing saw more employment opportunities in
Europe. Unable to afford the sea passage, in 1645 George worked as a preacher on a
ship bound for England via Newfoundland and the West Indies.
Sympathetic to the
parliamentary side, he arrived back in England in 1646 and joined Sir Thomas
Fairfax’s Parliamentary forces as a chaplain to Colonel John Okey's regiment
that was fighting Charles I’s Royalist Cavaliers. It appears that he abandoned
his religious vocation in favour of a military career, and in 1649 Oliver
Cromwell sent him as a spy to Scotland. He was appointed as
Scout-Master-General (equal to Major-General) in Cromwell's Army and as his
envoy to the Duke of Savoy on a salary of £300 a year. He was wounded at the
Battle of Dunbar on September 3rd 1650. The following year, Downing published
"A True Relation of the Progress of the Parliament's Forces in Scotland."
His
parents returned to Scotland in 1656, leasing their farm in Salem and a tavern
nearby to John Proctor, property, which Downing inherited after his father’s
death in 1660. Proctor was one of five men hung after the Salem witch trials
featured in Arthur Miller’s play ‘The Crucible’.
During
his ventures in the North he met and in 1654 married 21-year-old Frances,
daughter of Sir William Howard of Naworth, near Carlisle, and sister of
Charles, the 1st Earl of Carlisle. She was described as “a lady greatly
distinguished for beauty.” This marriage aided his promotion, becoming
Member of Parliament for the Scottish borough of Haddington, 18 miles east of Edinburgh,
that year and for Carlisle in 1656 and 1659. One of his missions was to go to France to gain
information on exiled Royalists living in Paris. Following Charles I execution,
he was one of the first MPs to urge Cromwell to take the royal title and
restore the old constitution.
In
June 1657 when he was in the House of Commons, Major-General Whalley asked him
to read prayers as he was a minister but Downing declined to act as chaplain.
Needing a residence in London near the Palace of Westminster, he acquired the
Crown interest in land and property in Axe Yard, King
Street, in Whitehall, London, known then as Peacock Court and
Hampden House. Here he was friends with John Milton, the poet, and Arthur
Haslerig, a parliamentary leader. His first son, George, was
born in 1656. In a case of blasphemy brought against a Quaker, he is reported
as saying the man should have his tongued bored through.
Following
a campaign by the French and Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy against the Protestant Vaudois
(Waldenses), in 1657 Cromwell sent Downing as his envoy to the French Court. He
was then sent as Cromwell’s ‘Resident’ or ambassador to The Hague in Holland,
the main European business centre, on a salary of £1,000 a year. As well as
trying to unite the Protestant European powers he acted as a mediator between
Portugal and Holland and between Sweden and Denmark. He was also expected to
defend the interests of the English traders against the Dutch who were in
competition with the East India Company over the spice trade. He also informed
parliament about the movements of exiled Royalists living in Holland. This
brought him a further £365 a year and helped him amass a large personal fortune.
Downing did not forget to look after himself. In 1659 Pepys wrote in his diary
that he “called for some papers at Whitehall for Mr Downing, one of which
was an order of the council for £1,800 to be paid monthly, and the other two
orders to the Commissioners of Customs to let his goods go free.”
He proved to be an able
diplomat learning Dutch and his “peering habits and
quick, decisive, categorical mind” helped him to master ciphers or
“characters” as they were then called. As a child his parents, fearful of the
plague in London, sent him with his brother to school in Maidstone, Kent, where
he lived in a community which had congenital deafness. It was here that he
mastered sign language. His clerk, Samuel Pepys, the London diarist who Downing
had financed whilst he studied in Cambridge, recalled him impressing colleagues
in an inn by using sign language to send a deaf boy out on a mission which he
did successfully. It was said that he had a network of dozens of spies working
for him, many of them deaf so they could not divulge their
information under torture. He employed them as pickpockets and thieves to get
keys and important documents. He sent his coded reports in diplomatic pouches to John
Thurloe, Cromwell's spymaster. Some historians claim that he spent more time
spying on Dutch politicians, military men and English Royalists living in
Holland, than attending to his diplomatic business. The Royalists knew him as “that
fearful gentleman.” With his contacts all over Europe very little happened
without him knowing about it.
When Oliver Cromwell died
in 1658, his son Richard took over as Lord Protector and the Commonwealth
government kept Downing in his post overseas. By April 1660 he had changed sides,
making his peace with Charles I’s son, Charles, who, after escaping to France
during the Civil War, had settled in Holland. Rev. Stevens wrote that Downing’s
excuse “for his want of taste in joining Cromwell’s party was that he had
been beguiled in the ignorance of youth while in …Massachusetts where he was
brought up and sucked in principles that since his reason had made him see were
erroneous.” James Brown, the
Gamlingay historian, considered that Downing “managed the difficult feat of
serving both Cromwell and Charles II equally successfully, enriching himself at
their expense with a laudable lack of political bias”. (Brown, J. (1989), Gamlingay,
Cassell, p.158) Claire Tomalin, in her Whitbread prize-winning biography
of Pepys, commented on Downing’s bigotry and cruelty.
“By 1660 he may have had enough of near-anarchy in
England; he was also clear in his mind that he cared more for power and money
than for any principle, and saw that he could sell his abilities to whoever was
in a position to bid for them,”
Tomalin,C. Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self, p. 94
Downing had learned of an
assassination attempt against the king’s son and, aware that Charles was going
from Brussels to The Hague to visiting his mother, Henrietta Maria, Downing
disguised himself as a beggar and called at the inn where Charles was staying.
He gave him some secret messages from John Thurloe, Cromwell’s Secretary of
State, which convinced Charles to turn back. When Charles II was crowned king
in May 1660, he rewarded Downing with a knighthood. Even though he was elected
MP for Morpeth in 1661, the King sent him back to Holland as his ambassador.
Acting for the king, he arrested at Delft Colonel John Barkstead, Colonel John
Okey and Miles Corbet, three of the 53 MPs who had signed Charles I’s death
warrant. They had come to pick up their wives. Taken back to England, after
their trial, they were hung, drawn and quartered on 19th April 1662.
Downing continued in his embassy in Holland and was further rewarded with the
leasehold of a valuable piece of building land in Westminster adjoining St
James's Park in London.
He was confirmed as one of
the four Tellers of the Receipts of the Exchequer, a post he largely filled using
his deputy. One of Downing’s signed receipts, circa 1665/6, was for sale on the
web at $450. (http://manuscripts.co.uk/stock/5753.HTM)
It was for a further £1,250,000, for the Dutch War after the £2 million voted
by Parliament for it the previous year.
According to the Hatley
website, in early 1662 Downing acquired the manor of East Hatley,
Cambridgeshire, from the Castell family who had held it since the 15th century.
During the Civil War, Robert Castell supported the Royalists, as did his
neighbour, John St George whose fine by Parliament forced him to sell his
estate to the wealthy Cotton family. Castell’s estate was confiscated and,
following Charles II’s restoration, given to
Downing. His
mother, Lucy Winthrop, lived in the manor house for ten years whilst he was
working overseas. H. W. Stevens, in his history of Downing College, described
it as “not too sumptuous a mansion, seeing that it paid hearth tax on
but five hearths. She wasn’t pleased with the “meagre starvation
pittance allowed her by her preposterous son, who at the time was adding manor
to manor and lands to lands.” One of her letters described how he was “planting
his lordship with walnuts and apples.” They both referred to East Hatley as
“a dirty hole”. His employees
considered him mean for giving them at Christmas, “first beef, then
porridge, then pudding, and last of all pork.”
Over the next few years
Downing acquired estates in Wrestlingworth, East Hatley, Croydon, Tadlow and
Gamlingay. He also bought estates in Bottisham, near Cambridge and at Cowlinge
and Dunwich in Suffolk. The latter, as shall be seen, entitled him to represent
the villagers as their Member of Parliament. Exactly when he bought Shakledon
Manor from the Burgoynes of Potton (whose manor used to stand on the site of
the Club House of the John of Gaunt Golf Course) is uncertain. It was the
northern part of Gamlingay Heath close to the Woodbury and Tetworth estates on
top of the Greensand ridge.
Sir John Jacob of Bromley,
Middlesex had built himself “a very
pretty gentleman-like house” by 1635 on the site of old Tetworth manor. It
is now known as Old Woodbury. He was a ‘Farmer of the Customs’ in that he
collected the import and export duties from national and international traders
and kept a percentage for his service before handing it over to the King. He
benefited Gamlingay by paying for the construction of the ten almshouses on the
High Street.
In those days Gamlingay
Heath was considered a “no man’s land”, covered in gorse, brambles and
predominantly hawthorn thickets. People kept to the main paths and trackways
through it. Gamlingay Park covered a triangular area west of the village with
Woodbury Park to the west and Tetworth Park to the north. Heath Road formed its
southern boundary, Drove Road its northwestern boundary and Park Lane its
northeastern boundary. ,
On the 1st July 1663
Downing was created a baronet of East Hatley. One of his first contributions to
the parish was to erect a porch on St David’s Church, now derelict, and put his
coat of arms above the door. Pepys did not think highly of him. He thought he
was ‘niggardly’ and ‘a mighty talker’. Not only that he thought
he was mean for not providing the customary roast beef for a dinner for
the poor of the parish. He described Downing’s conduct as “odious” and
called him a "perfidious rogue," remarking that "all
the world took notice of him for a most ungrateful villain for his pains."
John Evelyn, the writer and diarist, had a similarly low
opinion of Downing, saying that he had been “a great traitor against his
Majestie but now insinuated into his favour,
& from a pedagoge & fanatic preach(e)r,
not worth a groate, becoming excessive rich.“
Part of his mission in Holland was to help Britain destroy the Dutch naval
power and break their monopoly on the shipping trade. It has been claimed that
his aggressiveness towards their merchants contributed to England’s disastrous
war against the Dutch between 1665 – 67. To avoid assassination, he returned
home and helped manage the Treasury. In 1665 he was responsible for amending
the Subsidy Bill whereby Parliament granted funds to the king that could only
be used for specified purposes like a war and not squandered on Charles II’s
court pleasures. A committee was set up to ensure it took place and Downing was
chosen secretary. This important law is still in use in England and America
today. In Rev. H.W. Stevens Downing College,
“the
first Sir George Downing was directly and indirectly a maker of British
history. He inspired the Navigation Act – the foundation of our mercantile
marine, and consequently of our navy, and consequently of our colonies and
spheres of influence. He was also the direct cause of the Appropriation Act, an
Act indispensable in every session, for government at home and one which has
been appointed by all our self-governing colonies.”
With his financial and
commercial experience, in May 1667 he was made secretary to the commissioners
where he introduced new accounting procedures that left a lasting mark on the
British treasury. He abolished the method of contracting Government loans
through the Goldsmith’s Company and advised the Treasury to constitute itself a
bank. Four years later, Charles II appointed him as a customs commissioner,
further increasing his salary. He was
believed to have “pocketed £80,000 from the Crown and to have been nicknamed
the “Household bell to call the courtiers to vote.”
Over the years he amassed
a huge estate. One purchase of interest was the right to half of Cambridge’s
farm rent then worth £70. He acquired
it from Queen Catherine, Charles II’s wife. To further cement his ties with the
royalty, he got William, Prince of Orange and later King of England, to be
godfather to his second son, also called William.
He was sent back to
Holland after the war in an attempt to break up the alliance between Holland,
France and Denmark and to incite another Anglo-Dutch war. It was during this
conflict that Downing warned Charles II that the Dutch were going to take
control of what is now Long Island, New York. Reinforcements were sent and the
area remained under British control. In 1874 Downing was
influential in England
persuading the Dutch to exchange New Amsterdam, their colony on Long Island,
for Surinam, a British colony in South America. It was then renamed New York.
He was so unpopular in
Holland that, after three months, he had to flee the country to escape an angry
mob and return to England. He also wanted to take care of his wife who was
seriously ill. His unauthorised return led to him being arrested and, on 27th
February 1672, was put in the Tower of London. He was released a few weeks
later and continued to hold high financial office.
The Great Fire of London
in 1666 destroyed many properties in London and during the following decades
there was much reconstruction going on. Speculation was a 17th
century investment plan.
Having land near
Westminster, Downing was not able to develop it until the leaseholder died in
1682. Part of his fortune was then spent on building a cul-de-sac of more than
twenty plain brick, three-storey terraced houses. Said to be fit for persons of
honour and quality, they all had a pleasant prospect of St. James Park. He managed to get Charles II’s permission to name his
prestigious new development “Downing Street.” However, they weren’t
completed until two year’s after his death. Overseers’ accounts show him living
in the neighbourhood of New Palace Yard.
Of the original houses
only Number 10, 11 and 12 remain. By 1732 they had become property of the Crown
and King George II gave them to the government as the official residence of the
Lord of the Treasury, another title of the Prime Minister. The Chancellor of the Exchequer occupies
number 11. As Downing Street was built on the site of John Hampden’s
former London home The John Hampden Society regards it as “a disgrace that,
for over 300 years, the official residence of the Head of Government of the
United Kingdom should be named after a man so despicable as George Downing - a
turncoat and hypocrite”.
1683 was a momentous year
for him. His son, also called George, married
Catherine, the daughter of James Cecil, the First Earl of Salisbury on 12th
July 1683 and Frances, his wife died the same month. He died in East
Hatley in July 1684 when he was 60 and “was buried by the side of his
wife in sheep’s wool onely” in a vault under the chancel of Croydon Church,
Cambridge The 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica states that
“Downing
was undoubtedly a man of great political and diplomatic ability, but his
talents were rarely employed for the advantage of his country and his character
was marked by all the mean vices, treachery, avarice, servility and
ingratitude. " A George Downing " became a proverbial expression in
New England to denote a false man who betrayed his trust.”
http://65.1911encyclopedia.org/D/DO/DOWNING_SIR_GEORGE.htm
According to the Downing College
website Downing was
“Possessed of extraordinary energy, ruthlessness and
ambition, Downing's rise from obscurity to wealth and power was meteoric and
his unscrupulousness notorious. Most importantly, however, Downing drew upon
his republican and Dutch experience to become by far the most important
reformer of royal finances in the Restoration period in a way which paved the
way for the subsequent financial revolution (1689-1714) which transformed
England into a great power.”
http://www.dow.cam.ac.uk/dow_server/events/BiCe/LibraryExhibition.html
Another comment about him
from O. G. Pickard who research the Downing’s influence in Dunwich was that the
“first baronet was a shady but
exceptionally able administrator who acquired great wealth from holding public
offices under the Crown”. For more information on his family’s influence in
Gamlingay and elsewhere follow the links.