Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet was a British politician (1623-1684) for whom Downing Street, the site of the Prime Minister’s residence, is named. Vellum manuscript DS, signed “G. Downing,” one page, 13.5 x 2.5, 1665. A receipt signed in the lower right corner by Downing. In fine condition.
George Downing's mother was the younger sister of Massachusetts Bay Governor John Winthrop. His family joined Winthrop in America in 1638, settling in Salem, Massachusetts. Downing attended Harvard College and was one of nine students in the first graduating class of 1642. More than any other man, Downing was responsible for arranging the acquisition of New York from the Dutch, and is remembered there in the name of two other streets named after him in New York, one in Greenwich Village and one in Brooklyn.
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