Sir George Downing, 2nd Baronet ( – June 1711) was a British civil servant. He was the son and heir of

Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet ( – 1684) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish diplomat and financial reformer, who held office first under the Commonwealth of England, then Charles II of England, Charles II. As Teller of the Receipt of the ...

, for whom

Downing Street Downing Street is a gated street in City of Westminster, Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In a cul-de-sac situated off Whiteh ...

is named. His father worked as

Teller of the Receipt of the Exchequer The Teller of the Receipt of the Exchequer was an office in the English Exchequer. The Tellers of the Exchequer received any money to be paid into the Exchequer, noted the amount in a book, and sent a copy of the entry, called a Teller's Bill, to ...

from 1660 until 1684 and was made a baronet of

East Hatley East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

, in 1663. In 1680, the younger George Downing joined his father as a Teller of the Receipt of the Exchequer, holding that position until April 1689. His father died in July 1684, and the younger Downing inherited his father's

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

. On 12 July 1683, Downing married Lady Catharine Cecil, daughter of James Cecil, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, and his wife Lady Margaret Manners, daughter of the

Earl of Rutland Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used. The titl ...

. They had one son before Lady Catharine's death in 1688, George Downing, who inherited his father's title upon the second baronet's death in June 1711. George married Mary Forester, daughter of

Sir William Forester ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part o ...

Dothill Dothill is a small district in the north-western part of Telford, England. It is located to the north-west of Wellington, Shropshire, Wellington, one of the old towns that form a part of the modern-day new town of Telford. The area of Dothill use ...

, Shropshire, in whose home he was brought up following his mother's death. He also served as

Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire This is an ''incomplete'' list of sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in England from 1154 until the abolition of the office in 1965. Exceptionally, the two counties shared a single sheriff. Sheriffs had a one-year term of office, bei ...

in 1686–87.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Downing, George 1650s births 1711 deaths Downing baronets People from Cambridgeshire High sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire People from Westminster