John Dawnay, 1st Viscount Downe (c. 1625 – 1 October 1695), known as Sir John Dawnay between 1660 and 1681, was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

between 1660 and 1690. Dawnay was the son of John Dawnay of

Womersley Womersley is a village in the Selby District, in the English county of North Yorkshire. The parish population at the 2011 census (including Stapleton and Walden Stubbs) was 515. It is near the towns of Selby, Askern and Pontefract. It is clos ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

and his wife Elizabeth Hutton, daughter of Sir Richard Hutton, a Judge of the

King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of commo ...

. He was baptised on 25 January 1625. He entered

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

and

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

in 1641. History of Parliament Online - Dawnay, John
/ref> In 1660, Dawnay was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

in the Convention Parliament. He was knighted on 2 June 1660. In 1661 he was elected MP for

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wake ...

in the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of C ...

. He was re-elected MP for Pontefract in the two elections of 1679. He was raised to the

Peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

Viscount Downe Viscount Downe is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Ireland. The first creation came in 1675 for William Ducie. However, the title became extinct on his death in 1679. The second creation came in 1680 for John Dawnay. He ha ...

on 19 February 1681. As this was an Irish peerage he could remain a member of the

and he was re-elected in 1681, 1685 and 1689. He commissioned the building of

Cowick Hall Cowick Hall is a 17th-century Georgian country house in the town of Snaith, located between the villages of East and West Cowick, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The house is Grade I listed and several outbuildings on the estate a ...

in East Yorkshire in the late 17th century. Dawnay died in October 1695, aged 70, and was succeeded in the viscountcy by his son

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

. Lord Downe was twice married. He married firstly Elizabeth Melton, daughter of Sir John Melton, in 1645. After her death in February 1662 he married secondly Dorothy Wickham, daughter of William Johnson, of Wickham,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, in 1663 Sir Christopher Dawnay, 1st Baronet, was his brother.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downe, John Dawnay, 1st Viscount 1625 births 1695 deaths Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland Peers of Ireland created by Charles II English MPs 1660 English MPs 1661–1679 English MPs 1679 English MPs 1680–1681 English MPs 1681 English MPs 1685–1687 English MPs 1689–1690

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...