Sherrington Parish Registers - DOWNING (DOWNYNG), 16th century

[dukewm]

Part 2

Additionally, here is a list of recorded baptisms I found for Arthur Downing: (all have documented folios)
from familysearch.org – I did a search for any forename (blank) , children of “Arthur” , surname “Downing” , born between 1570-1590 and got the following results :
1. John Downinge, son of Arthur Downinge, bap. 1 Jan 1578 at Saint Bartholomew, Chichester, Sussex 
2. Grissell Downing, dau. of Arthure Downing, bap. 12 Jun 1580 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
3. Margaret Downinge, dau. of Arthur Downinge, bap. 10 Jun 1581 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
4. Edmund Downinge, son of Arthure Downinge, bap.  13 Jun 1581 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
5. George Downeinge, son of Arthure Downeinge, bap. 3 May 1584 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
6. Arthure Downinge, son of Arthure Downinge, bap. 20 Apr 1585 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
7. Robert Downeinge, son of Arthure Downeinge, bap. 29 May 1586 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
8. Wingfilde Downeynge, son of Arthure Downeynge, bap. 17 Apr 1587 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
9. Francis Downinge, dau. of Arthure Downinge, bap. 3 Nov 1588 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
10. Ellen Downeinge, dau. of Arthure Downeinge, bap. 2 Nov 1589 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk

Lexham is only a little over two miles east of Castle Acre and two miles south of Weasenham.

The notable exception to the above list is John, the eldest, baptized in Sussex in 1578.
Was John the son of the same Arthur, or were these two different families ?
Perhaps Arthur (and Susan) were away from home on military campaign or for some other reason.
Could this 'John', baptized in Sussex, have followed his family to Suffolk at some point, then found himself in Ireland by 1601 ?

On the surface, it appears that Arthur (Arthure) Downing (Downinge, Downeinge, Downeynge), who had 9 children baptized at Weasenham, would have been Arthur of Lexham.
However, we have yet to find any documented baptisms near Lexham, for Arthur's children (John, Calibutt, Dorothy, Anne, and Susan) as given by The Visitations of Norfolk.
Could there have been two Arthur Downings who frequented locations only 2 miles apart in the same time frame ?
 
In any case, I wanted to bring to light a few 'John' Downings as potential members of our Downing branch.
Maybe one of these 'Johns' migrated to Ireland by 1601 and could have been the great grandfather of Adam ?


I was aware of a George Downinge (Householder) listed on the Rent Roll for Londonderry, taken 15th May 1628.
from: Ellis MS 42. Published in facsimile with introduction by R. G. S. King, then dean of Derry, as "A particular of the howses and famylyes in London Derry, May 15, 1628"
http://www.ulsterancestry.com/ua-free-Rent_Roll_of_Derry.html
Could he be the son of Maj. John and in his early twenties in 1628 ?
 
I see there is a village 'Ballykelly' on the A2 just east of Londonderry which has an intersection with Walworth Road leading north off Main Street (A2),
so I'm sure that is the place you mention and it is close enough to the city to weigh on the probability that George the younger, could have migrated to Londonderry
from his father's homestead.

As for the timeline, if we assume an average generational split of 25 years and John was b. abt. 1581, we could estimate George the elder was b. abt. 1606, and
George the younger abt. 1631, give or take a few years.  Assuming Adam's birth year of 1666 is correct (he is described as having died in his "53rd year" on the Downing vault in Bellaghy),
George the younger would have been about 35 years old at Adam's birth.  Adam's youngest sister wasn't born until 1678 (according to the 1901 Downing book),
so that might suggest George the younger was born a little later.

If we speculate that George the younger was Adam's father, and he did marry Jane Montgomery:
• it is likely one of Adam's grandsons was named in honor of Col. Clotworthy Skeffington, under whom Adam served during the Siege of Derry and/or The Battle of the Boyne.
• We must also note that Adam had younger brothers named John and George, and he named two of his own sons John and George, but there were no descendants named 'Hugh' (that we know of).


All comments are welcome and any additional information could be a major breakthrough.
Even a seemingly insignificant detail might be the key that unlocks a huge mystery.

Forward Into the Past,
Rick Turner

[TimMansfield]

Hi Robert.

I am absolutely fascinated by your comments and those of Rick Turner! This is a lot of new information to absorb from these new possibilities. It does strike me (referring to one of your previous posts which make makes a lot of sense) that it seems strange that Adam Downing appeared out of the blue from Dawson's Bridge in the 'nick of time' at the siege from outside to the main gate!

As a young officer he would have restricted from coming or going, and would certainly been killed by James' army if he had done so. Perhaps the poem was made up at a later time? I have idea of the origin of it or the full version.

Rick, Penny and Tia are already members (as well as several of my siblings and Downing cousins) but so far I have not been able to invite Peter Fullerton. If you are in touch with him please could you forward this message to him?

Kind regards,

Tim Mansfield

[Robert Stedall]

Just to add to the debate about Adam Downing and his uncle Nicholas, i have done a bit of research on the location of land around Bellaghy. This may be of interest.

There is no doubt that Bellaghy, Drumard and Rocktown were on the Vintners' proportion. Drumard and Rocktown (in the Irish Baile-na-carraig or perhaps Ballymacragg) are adjacent townlands to the west of Bellaghy. The head tenant ('Farmer') of the Vintners was Sir John Skeffington, 2nd Viscount Massereene, so Nicholas and Adam will have been or have become his under tenants. It is apparent that Adam served under Sir John's son, Clotworthy Skeffington in the Williamite wars, so he could have been offered a tenancy either before of after 1689.  

In 1695, on the death of Sir John, Clotworthy Skeffington, became 3rd Viscount Massereene and took over as the Vintners' Farmer. He fell into arrears of rent causing much litigation with the Vintners. The Vintners' Agent, William Conolly, later Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, seized possession of the estate. On the 3rd Viscount's death in 1714, Conolly took over as Farmer, and tried to buy out the Vintners for £6,000 and a continuing rent of £200 and 'two fat bucks'. After protracted negotiations, Connolly's descendants  acquired the estate from the Vintners in 1737 at a cost of £15,000. (see my book p. 469)

None of this should have affected the under-tenancies on Nicholas and Adam (until 1737, by when both were long since dead). When Nicholas died in 1698, Drummard passed to Adam, who will now have leased both Rocktown and Drummard. Yet this could not be land that he was granted by William III. Adam is also described as being of Dawson's Bridge. This is a bit further south and is on land originally granted to Sir Thomas Phillips.  Phillips's sons sold the lands to Thomas Dawson in 1633 at a time when Sir Thomas was taking on the Livery Companies in the Court of Star Chamber. I have so far found no evidence that Adam lived at Dawson's  Bridge except for the poem during the siege of Londonderry, but it is entirely possible that he was granted a freehold in recognition for his valour at Londonderry and the Boyne. Yet the Dawson's remained the principal landowners there. 

[Robert Stedall]

Rick,
I will try to comment on the relevant parts of your very helpful post of yesterday.
I entirely share your uncertainty on whether Lt./Major John Downing is the son of Arthur. I can add very little to what you have said. I have to leave you to research these issues. All I can say is that I know both Castle Acre and Lexham. They were and are both huge estates, and so the Downings, Wingfields and Calybutes must have been extremely well to do. It follows that the children are likely to have married into their own milieu. It seems very likely that the family baptized at Weasenham All Saints (a beautiful church) are the children of Arthur and Susan Calybute (but not necessarily John, born in Chichester). I am sure that you are aware of this but I have picked up somewhere that Arthur seems to have had a wife prior to marrying Susan Calybute. He had a son George and daughter, who married a Mr. Bellamy. I have no dates for them and the evidence may be suspect. George may have died young, if there is a son George by Susan Calybute. Calybute Downing is generally described as of Sherrington, Gloucestershire. I have been unable to locate where this is. Have you found it?  This is a long way from north Norfolk (but he did marry another Wingfield - whose family records are in impeccably good order!) Do we know what happened to the Lexham estate. It would be surprising if it were sold.
I would incline to the view that if John the son of Arthur went to Ireland as a soldier, he is likely to be a younger son. You may well have found a good alternative at Rattlesden, but it is clear that Nicholas, the maker of the will lived in Ireland (in the latter part of his life at least).
My focus for now is to try to follow John’s family in Ireland and to establish whether Adam and Nicholas descend from him. I posted a message on Rootschat earlier today which goes someway to sorting out the locations of Rocktown, Drumard and Dawson’s Bridge. You may want to look at this.
Ballykelly was on the Fishmongers’ proportion, which they renamed the Manor of Walworth after a distinguished Past Master and Lord Mayor of London. The castle was NW of Ballykelly and I have visited the site, now New Walworth House, where the original bawn now forms part of a walled garden. I quote from James Stevens Curl, The Londonderry Plantation 1609-1914, p. 233: ‘The Castle [at Walworth], occupied by Mr. George Downinge and Mr. Higgins stood inside a bawn with four flankers.’ This was in c. 1620.
I like your suggestion that Clotworthy Downing might have taken his name from Clotworthy Skeffington. I have also read on Rootschat that Alexander Clotworthy Downing, to give his full name, took his name from his godfathers, Lords Caloden (Alexander) and Massereene (Clotworthy Skeffington). This would also account for the naming of his brother Dawson Downing as a godson of one of the Dawsons. Was Jane Clotworthy a figment of the imagination of the Downing / Wilberforce family tree?   
Robert

[Robert Stedall]

Tim, I have found your excellent website on the siege of Londonderry on line. You again mention the poem of 'Gallant Adam Downing' from Dawson's Bridge. Have you found the full poem and do you know when it was written?

The Memoir written by or for Alexander George Downing in 1893 also mentions the same three lines of the poem, but it associates them with the Battle of the Boyne and not the Siege of Londonderry. In one sense this seems more logical as Adam could have been granted land at Dawson's Bridge after the siege and before the battle. Yet it is less likely that Adam would merit a mention among 40,000 Williamite troops. The Ballad of the Battle of the Boyne mentions the death of William's senior general, the 73-year-old Duke of Schomberg, as he crossed the river, but does not mention the Rev. George Walker, the real hero of Londonderry, who died beside him.

I would welcome any information as the date of the poem, could explain a lot. Robert 

[Robert Stedall]

I suppose that I have reached a point where it is worth summarising where my investigations have led, and I have changed my mind in the light of conflicting evidence that you have all provided. I have arranged for some research at PRONI to try to clarify the ancestry of Adam Downing, so I will not anticipate this, but it may be worth summarising my assessment of the conflicting records that we have in England. I do not think I am now saying anything very different from Accra (Jill), but I may put it in a more forthright manner!

1. The initial problem with the English research seems to have been caused by Wood, in Athenae Oxoniensis, where he claimed that Sir George Downing (1st Bart) was the son of the Rev. Calibute Downing D.D. We now know from Lucy Winthrop's letters that Sir George was the son of Emmanuel Downing.
2. When Burke prepared his Extinct Baronetage. He followed Wood in making Sir George the son of Calibute Downing. As he was aware that Calibute had a son, Henry, he made Henry a brother of Sir George. Yet he went further and claimed that Adam Downing, was the son of Henry. It is not clear how Burke came to this conclusion.
3. We are aware from Nicholas Downing's will in 1698 that his nephew was Adam of Bellaghy, and that his brother Adam's father had married 'Jane', and he had another brother William. If Henry, the son of Calibute, were the father of Adam, then he had brothers Nicholas and William. As the children of Calibute are extremely well documented, it is inconceivable that Henry would have had brothers, Nicholas and William without them being recorded.
4. In the meantime, the Downing of Gamlingay family tree was published by the heralds in their Visitation of Suffolk. This demonstrated with wills and the letters of Lucy Winthrop (the wife of Emmanuel) that Sir George was the son of Emmanuel Downing. It also showed that Emmanuel was the son of George Downing, the schoolmaster in Ipswich, who was the son of George Downing of Beccles. 
5. When Downing and Wilberforce produced their family tree in 1901, they had become aware that Sir George was the son of Emmanuel. They were also aware that Adam was the nephew of Nicholas. It can only be assumed at this point that they became 'economical with the truth'. It suited them to believe that Adam Downing was descended from Geoffrey Downing and Elizabeth Wingfield (the Rev. Calibute was Geoffrey and Elizabeth's great-grandson). Without more ado, they prepared a tree that showed Sir George, Nicholas and Henry (who was Calybute's son)  as children of Emmanuel, but ignored all Emmanuel's other children as shown in the Downing of Gamlingay family tree and ignored William, who was shown as a brother in Nicholas's will. Having imposed Emmanuel as their ancestor, they made him a brother of the Rev. Calibute and a son of the Rev. Calibute's father (also Calibute). This maintained the line back to Geoffrey and Elizabeth. Yet this conflicted with the Downing of Gamlingay family tree, based as it was on confirmed evidence.
6. Not content with all this subterfuge, Downing and Wilberforce, retained Adam Downing as a son of Henry Downing and, in keeping with Nicholas's will, they named his mother as Jane. As Adam had a grandson, Alexander Clotwothy Downing,  I can only assume that they created a surname for her of Clotworthy. Yet we now know that Alexander Clotworthy took his name from his godfathers, Lords Caloden (Alexander) and Massereene  (Clotworthy). I can only conclude that Jane Clotworthy is an invented name.   
To be continued.

[Robert Stedall]

Follow on from previous message.

7. We know that Nicholas held leaseholds on the Vintners' proportion near Bellaghy. He left Drumard to Adam, who already held a lease over Rocktown, which was adjacent. He also left the leasehold of Moyagall (adjacent to Drumard) to his nephew Daniel (who seems to have been a cousin of Adam). It looks likely that these Downings had lived in Ireland for some time - if not always.
8. Yet Downing and Wilberforce conclude that Adam arrived from England at the age of 23 having raised a force of soldiers and was reportedly conspicuously gallant at the siege of Londonderry and the battle of the Boyne, such that William III granted lands to him at Bellaghy (or even Dawson's Bridge). He could not have been granted lands at Bellaghy, as these were Vintners' Company freeholds and the Downings held an underlease from the head tenant Clotworthy Skeffington, later 3rd Viscount Massereene. I can find no evidence that Adam was granted land at Dawson's Bridge, which was outside the Vintners' proportion.
9. The evidence for Adam's gallantry comes from 19th Century ballads (I have found three) about the siege of Londonderry, which mentions his name among a whole list of other people who were involved. There is no doubt that he was at the siege, and he probably arrived there as a Captain serving under Colonel Clotworthy Skeffington after the defeat of the plantation forces at Dromore. I have gone through all the contemporary histories of the siege of Londonderry and Adam receives a mention as part of a Military Court Martial investigating cowardice among the defenders, and he signed Walker's humble address to William III at the end of the siege. His cousin, Major John Dobbin (see Nicholas's Will) was involved in sallying out to recover Windmill Hill, but Adam does not seem to have been involved. I can find no mention of Adam at the Battle of the Boyne. Nothing that I have found suggests conspicuous gallantry, although the researchers may unearth something.
10. All this leads me to believe that Adam's arrival from London is a fiction. It is much more likely that he was the son of George Downing, the Comptroller of Customs of the Irish society and his wife Jane Montgomery of Ballygowan. Hopefully PRONI will reveal some evidence one way or the other.

Robert

[Robert Stedall]

I failed to cover one further piece of evidence in my two part assessment.

11. The inscription to Adam Downing at the Mausoleum at Bellaghy states:

In this place are deposited the remains of Adam Downing descended from an Ancient Family in Devonshire and honourably allied in this Kingdom, being married to Anne, daughter of John Jackson of Coleraine Esq. He gave signal proof of his courage at the Siege of Derry and Battle of The Boyne where he commanded an independant Company in confidence of Will. In consequence of which, he was appointed by Government in the year 1715 one of the Commissioners of Array. Soon after was made Lieutenant Colonel of Militia Dragoons and on the 18th January in the same year Deputy Governor of this County.
Age: 53
Date of Death: 15/12/1719

It does not state that Adam Downing came from England. It does not state that he is descended from the Clotworthy family as Downing and Wilberforce claimed it said. It does not claim that he was granted land by a grateful King in thanks for his services.

It does say that he commanded a Company at the Battle of the Boyne but not that he raised it at his own expense. It does say that he gave signal proof of his courage at the Siege of Londonderry and Battle of the Boyne. Just being there would have justified that comment, but we have not found any heroic event that would cause him to stand out from the crowd. It does state that he came from Devonshire. This seems surprising if he knew that he were directly descended from the Norfolk or Suffolk families. It is much more likely that his ancestors had lived in Ireland for several generations, and he thought that they may originally have come from Devon. Possibly Lieutenant John Downing b. c. 1575 was not a son of Arthur, but of Devon stock. Certainly there is early ancestry recorded as being from Devon, although this may be to satisfy the comment at the Mausoleum.

Robert

[Robert Stedall]

A FAMILY RECORD OF THE DOWNING FAMILY IN IRELAND

Forgive me if I repeat some of my earlier RootsChat messages, but I am now bowing out of the complexity of the Downing family, and between Rick Turner and myself we have researched a few additional matters. The following is a slightly abbreviated copy of a message sent to Rick and to Peter Fullerton. I will send ie as several separate message as I can only send 5,000 words as a time.

Part 1

Piecing together a history of the Downing family both in England and in Ireland has been fraught with difficulty. Although there are numerous historic records for this well-connected name, in almost every instance, they conflict. The process is made more complicated, because Downing was not an unusual name in either England or Ireland, making it difficult to establish which individuals belong to these family lines. Although tradition dictates that the family came from Devon, as confirmed by the inscription at the family mausoleum at Bellaghy, and some of the early parts of the family trees show a descent from Devonshire, the more certain ancestry of the families that we have been researching is from East Anglia.

It has now been established that there are two families of Downing, for which no verifiable link has been found, despite their similar but not identical coats of arms. Most of the confusion has been caused by generations of genealogists, trying to shoehorn the two families together. The Memoir provided by Alexander George Downing is a good example of this problem.

The Norfolk family
The Norfolk family descends with certainty from Geoffrey Downing of St. Paul’s Belchamp in Essex, who married on 8 October 1549 Elizabeth Wingfield. There are Wingfield family trees which confirm Elizabeth’s descent from a galaxy of Norman knights including the Plantagenet kings. The Wingfields were often employed as soldiers and diplomats around the Crown, and Elizabeth’s second cousin, Sir Richard Wingfield was the Queen’s Marshal in Ireland at the time of the battle of Kinsale in 1601. She was the daughter of Thomas Wingfield of Dunham Magna (Great Dunham) in Norfolk. Her only son, Arthur Downing, was married at Belchamp St. Paul on 20 November 1570 to Susan Calybute of a family of wealthy land owners at Castle Acre in Norfolk. This resulted in Arthur occupying the adjacent estate at Lexham.

Arthur Downing had two sons by Susan Calybute, Calybute Downing, who married another Elizabeth Wingfield (a remote kinswoman of his grandmother) living at Shennington in Oxfordshire, and John born in about 1581. It is now thought that this John Downing went to Ireland, possibly in the service of his kinsman, Sir Richard Wingfield. Calybute Downing, had a son, The Rev. Calybute Downing, who graduated from Oxford University, and was an acolyte of Archbishop Laud, through whom he hoped to gain a prelacy. When Laud fell from grace before the execution of Charles I, the Rev. Calybute had to settle for becoming Rector of Hackney. To the horror of his former colleagues at high-church Oxford, he began to espouse non-conformist views.  He had a surviving son, Henry, amongst a number of daughters by his second wife, Margaret Brett. According to a record on Geni https://www.geni.com/people/Margaret-Brett/6000000011002715652?through=6000000011002715646, Henry changed his name to Brett. He was baptised on 14 November 1640 at Hackney, but we have no verifiable record that he married or had children.

The Suffolk family
The Suffolk family, was, initially at least, of less exalted standing. The earliest known ancestor was George Downing of Beccles in Suffolk, whose will was dated 15 December 1561. By his wife, Cicely, he had a large family, of whom George, the third son entered Queen’s College, Cambridge in 1569, and later became headmaster of the grammar school in Ipswich. According to a family tree for Downing of Gamlingay (the Baronetcy family - see below), he married a Miss Bellamy, who was buried at St Lawrence, Ipswich in 1610.  He made a will on 17 January 1611, proved in Ipswich on 3 October 1611, mentioning his unmarried daughters, but he also had a son, Nathaniel Downing, whose will, dated 7 May 1616, refers to his brothers, Joseph, Joshua, and Emanuel (sic) in addition to other family members.



End of part 1