NAMING OF DOWNING ST.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 184, 21 August 1937, Page 15

NAMING OF DOWNING ST.

An eneyclopaedia can be a very dull book, but it can also be a very lively, entertainlng volume as is proved by "An Eneyclopaedia of London." Mr. Eent knows his London well, and he deals with all the sights, the strcets, in alphabetical order, and in a chatty, informative way disconreea abont them alL To take at random Downing StreCt, for example, a street which is often in tEe mind of alL, , ' 'Downing Street took its name from. Sir Geo. Downing — son of a barrister, and born in Dublin, 1023. He was taken by his parents to America in 1638 and became an undergraduate of the new Harvard College. About 1045 be returned to Ebgland, and became a chaplain in the Parliamentary forces. In 1655 he was one of a group Who wished Cromwell to be king. After this be became Ambassador at Tbe Hague, and notwithstanding his support of the Commonwealth, managed at the Eestoration to be made teller in the Exchequer, having Samuel Pepys as his clerk.

"The latter ruougnt less o* him than did his king. Charles H. knighted Downing a week before he reached London in 1660. Pepys wrote a few weeks later: 'Hq is so stingy a fellow 1 care not to see himj I quite cleared myself of his office, and did give him liberty to take anybody in.' In March, 1661, he was ' periidious rogue.^ Downing was certainly a bit of a Yicar of Bray, and played his cords welL Later he was made Socro* tary of the Treaswry. "In 1681 he bought 'a messuage' in Whitehall, and built four houses. In 1698 Downing Street was described as: " ' A pretty open space, especially at the upper end, where are four or five very large and well-built houses, At for persons of honour and quality, cach house having a pleasant prospect into St. James's Park. ' " The account concludes with a list of the famous Premiers who have occupied No. 10 since the days of Walpole, the first Pfemier occupant.