The New International Encyclopædia/Downing, George

DOWNING, Sir George (1623-84). An English soldier and politician. He was born in Dublin, and was the nephew of Governor John Winthrop, who induced him to complete his education at Harvard College in 1642. Some years afterwards he went to England and served in the Parliamentary army. During the Protectorate, he was a member of both Parliaments, was a leader of the movement for offering the crown to Cromwell, and afterwards was British resident at The Hague. He ingratiated himself with the exiled Stuarts, however, and after the Restoration was instrumental, through his treachery, in arresting three regicides. He was knighted in 1663, and became Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Commissioners of Customs. Downing Street, Whitehall, derives its name from him, and Downing College, Cambridge, from his grandson, Sir George Downing (1684-1749).