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

[dukewm]

Very nicely summarized Robert.

I saw only two minor errors:
1. Adam's mother was named as 'Jane' is Adam's own Will, not the Will of Nicholas, and
2. Adam's eldest son, Henry, did not die a minor.  He was born 1695/6, went to Trinity College, Dublin.  His Will was proved in 1766 as 'Henry Downing, Esq. of Dublin'.

Great post that hopefully clears up many "foggy" misrepresentations.

[Robert Stedall]

I entirely accept both are my errors. Thanks!

[Robert Stedall]

By way of disseminating some further information on the Downing family, which has been taxing several of us in recent weeks. I attach some further findings on this thread (which should actually be for Downing of Shenington not Sherrington).

THE CHILDREN OF ARTHUR DOWNING OF LEXHAM


Part 1

It has long been established that Arthur Downing of Lexham was the son of Geoffrey Downing and Elizabeth Wingfield of Great Dunham in Norfolk. Arthur was born or baptized on 10 May 1543 at Belchamp St. Paul in Essex and he had two sisters, Elizabeth and Katherin, both born at Belchamp St Paul. This is confirmed by Parish records. It is also known that Arthur married Susan Calybute of Castle Acre in Norfolk on 1 August 1570 at Clare Parish Church next to Belchamp St Paul. Susan, who was aged seventeen, was Arthur’s second cousin through his Wingfield connection; she was a considerable ‘catch’. The Calybutt family were substantial land owners at Castle Acre, and Susan was one of four daughters, without a brother, named as heirs to their father. As a result of this, Arthur seems to have inherited the substantial Lexham estate, adjacent to Castle Acre, through his wife.

It had always been assumed that Susan Calybute was Arthur’s only wife, as confirmed by the combined version of the 1563, 1589 and 1613 Visitations of Norfolk, prepared by the Harleian Society in the 19th Ccntury. Yet, if the visitations are looked at separately, the 1563 visitation shows Arthur with four children John, Dorothye, Anne, and Suzan, suggesting that they were born prior to the date of the Visitation. This cannot be right, as Arthur was 20 in 1563 and Susan was 10.  Although there is an addendum, included in 1570, confirming that Susan Calybute had now married Arthur at the age of seventeen. John and his three sisters can only have been born after 1570.  The visitation record does not mention Susan’s son Calybute Downing, suggesting that he was born after the visitation had taken place. We have an unverified record that Calybute was born in on 1 June 1574, 43 months after the marriage, but as he was the fifth child he could not have been born until later, unless Susan had twins beforehand, and we have no evidence of this.
 
To add to this complication, there are baptismal records of nine children of ‘Arthur Downing’ at Weasenham All Saints between 1580 and 1589. These do not include Susan’s son Calybute, but do include a son called Wingfilde baptised in 1587. Weasenham is about three miles north of Lexham, and although it was badly damaged in Cromwellian times, it remains significantly more imposing than the Saxon churches at East and West Lexham. We also have a record that ‘Arthur Downing’ married Anne Pears, a widow, on 28 November 1587 at Swaffham, about five miles south of Lexham. It is thus possible that Anne was the mother of the two youngest children born at Weasenham All Saints  in 1588 and 1589.

See part 2

[Robert Stedall]

THE CHILDREN OF ARTHUR DOWNING

Part 2

We do not know if the first seven children at Weasenham were the children of Arthur and Susan, but it seems likely given that one of them is named Wingfilde. Nevertheless, there is no mention of any of them in the range of later genealogical records that we have explored. We have examined the possibility that there was a second Arthur Downing living in the vicinity of Weasenham. The only record that we have found is of an Arthur, son of John Downing, who died at Little Dunham (about three miles from Lexham and six miles from Weasenham) on 8 March 1578. The fact that his father is mentioned suggests that this is the death of a child. It is also unlikely that he would make regular use of a church six miles from his home when there were others much closer. Even if he did, he died in 1578 and cannot be the father of the Weasenham children.     
 
The question is made more complicated by the evidence of the 1589 visitation, which was signed by Arthur. This mentions his wife Susan, his son John and his three sisters, but not Calybute or the Weasenham children or Anne Pears. If you accept this at face value, you have to conclude that Arthur of Lexham did not marry Anne Pears and was not the father of the Weasenham children. You also have to conclude that Calybute was born after 1589. Yet Calybute married another Elizabeth Wingfield, a widow aged 34, on 13 December 1604 in Tinwell, Rutland and if he were born after 1589, he would have been no more than 15 at marriage to a lady 19 years older than himself, and his eldest child was born a year later. This does not seem likely. Against this, there is no mention of any of the children other than John and Calybute in any subsequent genealogical records or in the 1613 Visitation (which does not mention the Downing family at all). Nevertheless, the dating of the 1589 Visitation record has to be questioned.

The College of Heralds has confirmed that Arthur Downing was granted arms in 1576. This may seem surprising as the College records that Arthur received a visitation in 1563 (and only those holding arms would have been eligible for this). Yet the information in the so called 1563 visitation could only have become available in about 1576.  There is a similar problem with the information in the 1589 visitation signed by Arthur Downing, which appears to relate to the time of the granting of his arms in 1576. If it does relate to the earlier period, everything seems to fall into place. Susan’s first four children would have been born by 1576; Calybute, could have been born in 1577 or a bit later, making him about 27 at marriage; and the first seven Weasenham children could have been born to Susan between 1580 and 1587 when she died. Arthur would then have married Anne Pears in November 1587, and she provided two further children in 1588 and 1589. 

Did the College of Heralds get it wrong?

Robert

[Olden Times]

I have had an interest in Lieutenant John Downing and have done some research on him and his children. I have collated what I have below:

John Downing (the 1st)

John Downinge (Downing) was a Protestant soldier.  David Edwards in “Regions and Rulers in Ireland 1100-1650” notes that John Downing was a servant of Robert Dudley (1st Earl of Leicester) when Dudley was Governor-General of the United Provinces.  A “John Downinge” does indeed appear in a list of Dudley’s household members dated November 1587 where he is clearly shown to be a musketeer in Dudley’s bodyguard.  Mr Edwards says that John the musketeer is the same person who subsequently went to Ireland.  I do not know how that link was established.

John was certainly in Ireland by the late 1590s and he fought in the Nine Years’ War against the Irish who opposed the expansion of English power in the island.  He served in Munster as the Lieutenant in Captain Sir Francis Barkely’s company of foot.  He was present in 1602 with the English army in Co. Cork and was one of the officers present at the capture of a stronghold on Dursey Island prior to the surrender of Dunboy Castle.  Irish prisoners from both sites were executed after capture.  The war finally ended in 1603.

Subsequently, the strength of the English army in Ireland was reduced and in October 1604 Barkely’s foot company was ordered to be disbanded (Calendar State Papers Ireland 1604).  Accordingly, Downing was discharged from the army on a pension of 2 shillings a day granted by King James 1 (Calendar State Papers Ireland 1606).  By April 1606 he was living in Clonshire, Co. Limerick.  At that time martial law was in force and the Lord President of Munster had granted him a commission to act as a commissioner of martial law.  On one particular occasion Downing was accused of maliciously exceeding his powers of summary execution while exercising his duties.  He was tried for murder of malice which in Ireland was a treasonable offence carrying an automatic death penalty.  He was tried at Limerick on 12-13 April 1606 and found guilty but the Lord Deputy of Ireland granted him His Majesty’s pardon on account of his previous good service as a soldier in the late wars.  In the Calendar of State Papers John is described by the Earl of Thomond (who had a personal interest in the trial) as “Lieutenant to Sir Francis Barckley” and “a very bloody murderer”. 

One of the men on the trial jury was Sir Richard Boyle the future 1st Earl of Cork.  John Downing subsequently became a tenant and trusted follower of Boyle who leased John land at Ballysaggard, Co. Waterford.  John must have been at Ballysaggard by June 1619 because Boyle gave him ten bars of cast iron for the windows of his new stone house (Lismore Papers Series 1, Vol 1 page 224). Boyle notes on 3 June 1629 “My honest tenant Leeftennant downinge departed this lyfe.” (Lismore Papers Series 1, Vol 2 page 325).

John Downing made a will dated 1 June 1629.  In the will he is styled John Downinge, gent, Ballmanagh, Co. Tipperary and in it he mentions by name three sons, Robert, Thomas and John.  It is known that he also had a daughter named Catherine.  In his will he left his farm at Pobalfentarragh to his wife but unfortunately he does not reveal her name.  Pobalfentarragh (also known as Pobalnaskagh) was a townland in Co. Limerick near Clonshire.  Ballymanagh was a townland near Clonmel now known as Monkstown.  His original will no longer exists; only a summary extract of it survives made by Jennings (National Archives of Ireland: Jennings Collection).

Continued in next post:

[Olden Times]

His son - Robert Downing

His eldest son Robert was mortally wounded on 18 or 19 February 1641/42 near Lismore serving as a Cornet in Lord Broghill’s troop of horse.  Broghill was a son of the 1st Earl of Cork.  Writing to the Earl on 26 January 1641/42 Broghill stated “I have made my choice of Robinge downinge for my Coronet,…..” (Lismore Papers, Series 1, Vol 4 page 255).  Robert’s wife Elizabeth of Ballysaggard, Co. Waterford made a deposition in August 1642 recording the death of her husband and enumerating her property that had been lost, stolen or ruined due to the rebellion.  Elizabeth’s deposition is held in Trinity College Dublin.  Robert had leases of land at Ballyduff and Ballysagard, Co. Waterford.  On 1 May 1627, the 1st Earl of Cork had granted “my servant Robert Downing an estate in so much of Ballyduff as lyes on the northside of Awmore for his own lyfe, his wives and his sons” for an annual rent of £25 sterling (Lismore Papers Series 1, Vol 2 , p216-17).  Robert was buried in the Cathedral Church, Lismore by Urban Vigors, Chaplain to Lord Broghill.

In the Civil Survey of County Waterford 1654-1656 a man named Richard Downing gent (a protestant) is noted to be in possession of land owned by the Earl of Cork at Ballysaggart-more.  In the 1659 Census of Ireland Richard is recorded as one of only three English residents out of the 74 residents of the townland of Ballsaggard.  Richard could have been the son of Robert Downing killed in 1641/42 but that is conjecture.

His son - Thomas Downing

His son Thomas made two depositions on 24 November 1652.  In both he is referred to as Major Thomas Downing of Lismore, Co. Waterford.  One deposition records that rebels came and pillaged the house belonging to his mother Catherine.  He recounts that this incident occurred at the time of the siege of Lismore in 1645 when Catherine was living in Ballysaggard, Co. Waterford.  She left to complain about her treatment but was overtaken at Ballygarran (now called Glencairn) and set upon and killed.  His second deposition states that his brother-in-law Edward Croker was murdered by rebels at Ballyanker (Ballyanchor).  In addition, Thomas related that during the rebellion his own wife Anne and his three young children had been murdered in a house at Miltowne, Co.Limerick.  Both of Thomas’s depositions are held in Trinity College Dublin.  Lord Broghill writing to the 1st Earl of Cork from Lismore on 26 January 1641/42 states “Here is Tom Downinge whos wife has bin most barbarously killed and whos children he fears are so, continues here without {any} of money and clothes, that it pities me to see him.” (Lismore Papers , Series 1, Volume 4, page 256).  Thomas also served at Lismore, in 1645. 

His daughter - Catherine Downing

His daughter Catherine married Edward Croker.  They lived at Ballyanker (Ballyanchor), near Lismore, Co. Waterford.  In February 1641/42 her husband was taken from his home by rebels and killed in a field nearby.  At the time she made her deposition on 27 November 1652 she was living at Ballynyroone and had not remarried.  Catherine’s deposition is held in Trinity College Dublin.  She is thought to have died in 1654.

His son - John Downing (the 2nd)

His son John married Catherine Browne.  During the Irish Rebellion of 1641 this John Downing (the 2nd) was a Lieutenant tasked by the President of Munster (Sir William St Leger) to defend Doneraille Castle (Co. Cork) against the Irish Catholic forces.  John made a deposition on 30 June 1642.  In his deposition he is styled John Downing, Lieutenant of Lissown, Co. Tipperary.  He describes his losses since the start of the rebellion in 1641 in particular becoming dispossessed of his farm in Lissown.  He estimated his losses to be one thousand pounds sterling which included unrecoverable debts owed by Edward Spring and Walter Travers “disabled protestants”.  He names several persons who he knew to have been killed by the rebels and they included an Ann Downing, Robert Downing and Richard Downing.  One of John and Catherine’s children was also named John (the 3rd)

His grandson - John Downing (the 3rd)

John Downing (the 3rd) married Aphra Maunsell.  John died at Broomfield, Midleton, Co. Cork on 1 Oct 1691 aged 57 and is buried in Midleton Church of Ireland churchyard.  Aphra died in 1708 aged 68.  They had at least 10 children.

Continued in next post.

[Olden Times]

Observations

I have not come across any evidence to support the claim made in the memoir that Lieutenant John Downing went to Ulster after the Nine Years War or had a son George by a wife named Margaret.  We do know that he was still in the army in Munster till 1604, then living in Limerick in 1606 and surfaces in Co Waterford by June 1619 as a tenant of Boyle.  Edwards cites evidence that Downing was in Co. Limerick as late as June 1617.

The John Downinge son of Arthur Downinge baptised on 1 Jan 1578 in Chichester, Sussex would appear to be too young to be the same John Downing who was a soldier in the Earl of Leicester’s bodyguard in 1587.

I have not discovered the birthplace of John Downing (the 1st), his place of marriage or the name of his wife.  Some pedigrees of related families say that his wife's maiden name was Travers or Traverse (without specifying her first name).  However, the Blennerhassett pedigree, states that his wife was Annabella Traverse.  Yet in Thomas Downing's deposition mentioned above Thomas says that his mother's first name was Catherine not Annabella.

I have not yet found any evidence to suggest that he ever held any rank higher than Lieutenant in the army.

Paul

[dukewm]

Hello Paul,

Thank you for posting your message on this thread.

We have a team of DOWNING researchers who have been trying to prove a few theories for many years and it is always good to hear from another genealogist who may have an interest in the subject matter.

May I ask how you may be connected to the DOWNING family ?
It seems that the depth of your research indicates more than a casual interest.

On the content of your research, I can confirm that much of the information you have provided corroborates what we have found from various sources.  I have seen excerpts from the Lismore Papers and the 1652 testimony of Major Thomas Downing in several sources, regarding the 1642 raids at Ballyanker and Ballysaggard that resulted in the murders of several of his family members by Captain Edmund Fennell.  On the other hand, we have developed a family tree (unpublished) that shows the relationships of the descendants of Lt. John Downing (d. 1629), including his sons, Robert, Thomas, John, and daughter Catherine, who married Edward Croker, and there may be a few things to clarify among those relationships.

I know I have recently reviewed parts of the Lismore Papers, but unfortunately cannot seem to access most of the parts you cite in your 3-part message, and the only part I can view, Series 1, Vol IV, does NOT contain the reference you cited on p.256 (as far as I can tell).

I found your reference to Robert Dudley in your 1st message, regarding a 'John Downing' as a musketeer in 1587 to be a high value clue which I had not seen before, and it IS possible that the 'John Downing' you mention fits the requirements that would link him as the son of Arthur Downing, but more information would be necessary to confirm that.

Assuming your interest is more than casual, I'd like to invite you to join our group and perhaps we can help each other out.  We have a virtual "ton" of data we can share.
I don't particularly like posting personal email addresses on here and perhaps you agree, but I'd like to send you a "private message" somehow and maybe Facebook could facilitate that (if you have a Facebook page).  Please reply with any ideas you may have on how to connect privately.

Thanks again,
Rick T

[SirRobHiFi]

I have been researching Downings since discovering I am descended from them.

Lieutenant John Downing that married Catherine Browne for example would be my 9th Great Grandfather.

I am currently stuck on figuring out whether Catherine Browne was the daughter of Sir Valentine Browne, 1st Baronet of Molahiffe, County Kerry or Sir Valentine Browne, 2nd Baronet of Molahiffe, County Kerry.

I have not yet read this thread so shall start that now.