Question: Who was born first, Kerry Downes or John Vanbrugh?
Context: Westcombe Park is a largely residential area in Blackheath in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, south-east London, England.  It is bounded by the main London-Dartford railway line to the north, the Blackwall Tunnel southern approach to the east, the Blackheath common to the south and a road, Vanbrugh Hill, to the west (named after the architect and playwright Sir John Vanbrugh who built his house Vanbrugh Castle nearby in Maze Hill). Kerry John Downes (born 1930) is an English architectural historian whose speciality is English Baroque architecture.  He is the son of the organist Ralph Downes (190493).  He studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art, where he was inspired by the lectures of Margaret Whinney.  He has written about (among other things) the English architects Nicholas Hawksmoor (  1661 1736), Sir John Vanbrugh (16641726) and Sir Christopher Wren (16321723), and the Flemish painter Sir Peter Paul Rubens (15771640).  His fellow historian James Stevens Curl has written, "Downes's productivity seems to contradict his claim that procrastination is one of his recreations". The Provoked Wife (1697) is the second original comedy written by John Vanbrugh.  The often-repeated claim that Vanbrugh wrote part of his comedy "The Provoked Wife" in the Bastille is based on allusions in a couple of much later memoirs, but is regarded with some doubt by modern scholars (see McCormick).  It is different in tone from his first play, the largely farcical "The Relapse", and adapted to the greater acting skills of the new company of actors chosen for its premiere, who walked out not long before in a dispute with management.  The actors' cooperative boasted the established star performers of the age, and Vanbrugh tailored "The Provoked Wife" to their specialties.  While "The Relapse" had been robustly phrased to be suitable for amateurs and minor acting talents, he could count on versatile professionals like Thomas Betterton, Elizabeth Barry, and the rising young star Anne Bracegirdle to do justice to characters of depth and nuance. Vaughan Hart is a leading architectural historian, and Professor of Architecture in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the University of Bath.  Hart studied architecture at Bath and Cambridge Universities (Trinity Hall), where he was taught by Michael Brawne, Patrick Hodgkinson, Peter Smithson and Dalibor Vesely.  He worked first as an architectural assistant to Colin St John Wilson on the British Library project in London, before studying for a doctorate in Cambridge on Inigo Jones under Joseph Rykwert.  Hart's concerns lie in particular with the symbolic function of architecture, and with the meaning of architectural forms.  Hart has published widely in the field of architectural history, specialising in the Italian architectural treatises and in British architectural history of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.  He is the co-translator (with Peter Hicks) of the treatises of Sebastiano Serlio, and he has also translated the two guidebooks to Rome published by Andrea Palladio and the guidebook to Venice by Francesco Sansovino (2017).  These works have in turn been translated into Chinese and Japanese.  Hart's translation of these classic works formed part of a wider project initiated by Rykwert and Robert Tavernor through their translation of the treatise by Leon Battista Alberti.  In addition, Hart's monographs include influential studies of the work of Inigo Jones, Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor, all published by Yale University Press for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.  The latter monograph was awarded the Best Book on British Art Prize of the American College Art Association in 2005. Easton Neston is a large grade I listed country house in the parish of Easton Neston near Towcester in Northamptonshire, England.  It was built by William Fermor, 1st Baron Leominster (1648-1711), in the Baroque style to the design of the architect Nicholas Hawksmoor.  Easton Neston is thought to be the only mansion which was solely the work of Hawksmoor.  From about 1700, after the completion of Easton Neston, Hawksmoor worked with Sir John Vanbrugh on many buildings, including Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace, and often provided technical knowledge to the less qualified Vanbrugh.  Hawksmoor's work was always more classically severe than Vanbrugh's.  However, Easton Neston predates this partnership by some six years. Vanbrugh Castle is a house designed and built by John Vanbrugh for his own family, located on Maze Hill on the eastern edge of Greenwich Park in London, to the north of Blackheath, with views to the west past the Royal Naval Hospital at Greenwich down to the Thames reaching as far as the Houses of Parliament. A Journey to London is a 1975 British comedy television film directed by Gareth Davies and starring Bill Maynard, Joan Sims and John Curless.  It is based on the restoration comedy play by John Vanbrugh. Sir John Vanbrugh ( ; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect and dramatist, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard.  He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, "The Relapse" (1696) and "The Provoked Wife" (1697), which have become enduring stage favourites but originally occasioned much controversy.  He was knighted in 1714. Hugh May (1621 – 21 February 1684) was an English architect in the period after the Restoration of King Charles II.  He worked in the era which fell between the first introduction of Palladianism into England by Inigo Jones, and the full flowering of English Baroque under John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor.  His own work was influenced by both Jones' work, and by Dutch architecture.  Although May's only surviving works are Eltham Lodge, and the east front, stables and chapel at Cornbury House, his designs were influential.  Together with his contemporary, Sir Roger Pratt, May was responsible for introducing and popularising an Anglo-Dutch type of house, which was widely imitated. A sugar-baker was the owner of a sugar house, a factory for the refining of raw sugar from the Barbados.  Sugar refining would normally be combined with sugar trading, which was a lucrative business.  The architectural historian Kerry Downes gives an example of one sugar baker's house in Liverpool being estimated to bring in £40,000 a year in trade from the Barbados.
Answer: John Vanbrugh