John Christopher Burton Dawnay, 5th Viscount Downe (15 November 1764 – 18 February 1832), styled The Honourable John Dawnay until 1780, was a British Whig politician. Dawnay was the eldest son of

John Dawnay, 4th Viscount Downe John Dawnay, 4th Viscount Downe (9 April 1728 – 21 December 1780), was a British peer and Whig politician. Background Dawnay was the younger son of the Honourable John Dawnay, eldest son of Henry Dawnay, 2nd Viscount Downe. His mother was C ...

, by Laura, daughter of William Burton, of Luffenham,

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

. He succeeded his father in the viscountcy in 1780. However, as this was an

Irish peerage 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 divisio ...

it did not entitle him to a seat in the English

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

.thepeerage.com John Christopher Burton Dawnay, 5th Viscount Downe
/ref> He subsequently sat as

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

Petersfield Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth a ...

between 1787 and 1790 and for Wootton Basset between 1790 and 1796. The latter year he was created Baron Dawnay, of Cowick in the County of York, in the

Peerage of Great Britain The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Acts of Union 1800. It replaced the Peerage of England and the Peerage of Scotland, but was itself r ...

, which gave him a seat in the House of Lords. Lord Downe was twice married. He married firstly a daughter of Major John Scott of Balconie. After her death in 1798 he married secondly Louisa Maria, daughter of George Welstead, of Apsley,

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, in 1815. There were no children from the two marriages. Downe died in February 1832, aged 67. The barony of Dawnay died with him while he was succeeded in the viscountcy by his younger brother, Reverend William Henry Dawnay. His widow spent her later years at

Bowden Hall Bowden Hall is a historic building on the campus of Western New Mexico University in Silver City, New Mexico. It was built as a men's dormitory in 1928, With and it was named in honor of a member of the board of regents. The bedrooms were later r ...

Upton St Leonards Upton St Leonards is a village in the English county of Gloucestershire. Forming part of the district of Stroud, it is a mile or so north of the A46 road between Stroud and Cheltenham. Facilities The village has two four-star hotels (Hatton Co ...

, where she endowed the local primary school. The Viscountess Downe died in March 1867.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Downe, John Dawnay, 5th Viscount 1764 births 1832 deaths British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796 Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland Peers of Great Britain created by George III Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Whig (British political party) MPs

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 ...