Background
George Downing was born in August, 1623 in Dublin, Ireland. He was the son of Emmanuel Downing of the Inner Temple and his second wife, Lucy Winthrop, sister of John Winthrop.
George Downing was born in August, 1623 in Dublin, Ireland. He was the son of Emmanuel Downing of the Inner Temple and his second wife, Lucy Winthrop, sister of John Winthrop.
Downing was the second graduate of the first class at Harvard College.
Downing was appointed tutor on a yearly salary of four pounds.
In the summer of 1645, apparently as chaplain of a ship, he escaped to the West Indies and thence made his way to London.
The rest of his career belongs to English history.
Downing was restless and ambitious.