Evening star., 1908-01-19
STREET THAT IS HUB OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE BUILT BY
AND NAMED AFTER AN AMERICAN MOST
FAMOUS HOUSE IN LONDON

I post without leave. He remained there
only month, though, for that doll
| faced French woman, the Duchess of
| Portsmouth. one of the kings mistresses,
| interceded for him.
Soon after Downing. was restored to
favor the king made him the chief treas
urer. Downing gave the profligate king
/ all the money he wanted and in several
| pamphlets defended his royal master. He
also saw that the kings three chief mis-
tresses. the Duchess of Portsmouth. Lady
Castlemaine and Nell Gwynn, had their
| share of dips into the English treasury.
He was such a great sycophant that he
secured grant of 100000 from the king.
He served in all the parlaments and was
known as "the house bell to call all the
courtiers to vote
So much for the founder of Downing
street. His abilities were proved by i.
career. but his reputation was stained by
servility, treachery and avarice.
= x
Peppys in his diary tells of DoWning's
niggardly habits and how he ill-treated
and starved his mother, who died long be-
fore her time from want of the comforts
of life.
Downing left a son to succeed to his
title and estates, and this son married the
eldest daughter of Lord Salisbury. He in
turn had son, but as the second baronet
was weak-mnded the son was brought up
by his uncle, Sir William Forester, who
married another daughter of Lord Sails
bury Sir William, when the son was fif-
teen, secretly married him to Mary For
ester, his daughter. aged thirteen. Soon
afterward the son went travelling and
when he returned he repudiated the mar
rtaee His career was that of a profligate.
He made ducks and brakes of the enor-
nous estate of his grandfather but was
unable to spend it all. He never married,
but left several illegitimate children.
whom he remembered in his will. This
will caused one of the most famous law
suits of the time. Sir George left large
sum in care of trustees to a relative on
certain conditions. Before these could be
fulfilled that relative and the trustees all
died. The will provided that If the condi-
tions were not fulfilled the money should
go to Cambridge University for the found
ing of college. The university and the.
heirs fought the case out for some fifty
years and finally the university won.
Downing College, Cambridge. now ninety
two years old, was the result.
The founder of Downing street built
some houses on it which he sold as well
as leased. Nos. 8. 10 and II were sold to
Lee Lord Lichfield, master Of the horse
to King James II. When the king fed
from England Lord Liehfeld had to do
the same and his property was forfeited
to the crown. In this way these three
houses came into the possession of the
government.
King George l knocked Nos 8 and 10
into one residence and presented it to
Baron Bothmar, the Hanoverian minister,
for life. On Bothmar's death George II
offered the house as a gift to- Sir Robert
Walpole, then prime minister. Walpole
refused it for himself. but accepted it as
the office of the first lord of the treasury
and perpetual official residence of the
prime minister.
And thus it came about that Downing
street is the most famous street in the
world" Although all the proclamations
and official papers of England are dated
from '.Our Palace of st. James," they
really emanate from Downing street. For
two centuries the British empire has been
run from the dingy house in this narrow
dull cul-de-sac and probably will continue
for centuries of the future.
Naturally the scenes and incidents that
the street has witnessed in the past 25O
years are vivid with interest. Here the
gay Lady Castlemaine wandered from her
walk in Whitehall Gardens to chat and
intrigue with the man who guarded the
nations gold. Here the dainty Duchess
of Portsmouth also visited Downing's