Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 15.djvu/401

 of the Church of England from the Reproaches and Objections of William Woodward, in two Fast Sermons preached in his Conventicle at Lempster in the county of Hereford, and afterwards published by him,' 4to, London, 1690 (Fasti Oxon., ed. Bliss, ii. 353, 369).

Downes differed from Henry Dodwell as to the antiquity of the famous iron shield formerly in the possession of Dr. Woodward. After his death his 'De Clipeo Woodwardiano Strictune breves' were published in two octavo leaves (, British Topography, i. 720).

 DOWNES, WILLIAM, first (1762–1826), chief justice of the king's bench in Ireland, born at Donnybrook, near Dublin, in 1752, was the younger son of Robert Downes of Donnybrook Castle, M.P. for the Co. Kildare, by Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Twigg, likewise of Donnybrook. Having been educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated B.A. in 1773, he was called to the Irish bar in 1776. He followed the legal profession with success, and in March 1792, while M.P. for the borough of Donegal, was appointed a justice of the king's bench; in the same year he was elected a bencher of the Honourable Society of King's Inns, Dublin; and in September 1803, consequent on the murder of Lord Viscount Kilwarden, who had been for five years lord chief justice, he was selected to fill the vacancy. In 1806, on the resignation of Lord Bedesdale, lord chancellor of Ireland, the chief justice was nominated in his stead vice-chancellor of the university of Dublin by the chancellor, the Duke of Cumberland; and this post he held until 1816, when he resigned, and was succeeded by Lord Manners, the lord chancellor. He had likewise received in 1806 from the university, honoris caused, the degree of LL.D. On 21 Feb. 1822 he resigned the chief justiceship, with a pension of 3,800l. per annum, [q. v.] succeeding him; and by patent dated 10 Dec. of the same year he was created an Irish peer, by the title of Baron Downes of Aghanville, King's County, with remainder, in default of male issue, to his cousin. Sir [q. v.] After his retirement from judicial life he continued to reside at Merville, Booterstown, co. Dublin. He died there without leaving issue 8 March 1826, and was buried in a vault under St. Anne's Church, Dublin, where the remains of his old friend and companion, Judge Chamberlain, who died in May 1802, had been deposited. As an inscription on a monument in the south gallery of the church records, 'their friendship and union was complete. They had studied together, lived together, sat together on the same bench of justice, and now by desire of the survivor they lie together in the same tomb.'

Hugh Hamilton's full-length portrait of Judge (afterwards Lord) Downes was one of 'the ablest efforts of his pencil' (, Life of James Gandon, Architect, p. 162). An admirable full-length portrait of him, in his robes as lord chief justice, was painted by Martin Cregan of Dublin; and having been engraved by Reynolds, it was published by Colnaghi, Son, & Co. in 1827. An engraving by Lupton, from a portrait by Comerford, has also appeared.

 DOWNHAM or DOWNAME, GEORGE (d. 1634), bishop of Derry, elder son of, bishop of Chester [q. v.], was probably born at Chester, to which see his father was elected 1 May 1561. He was elected fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1585, and logic professor in the university. Fuller describes him as one of the best Aristotelians of his time. His sermon, 17 April 1608, at the consecration of James Montague, bishop of Bath and Wells, led him into a controversy on the divine institution of episcopacy, which he had strongly maintained. James I made him one of his chaplains, and on 6 Sept. 1616 nominated him as bishop of Derry. He was consecrated on 6 Oct. His appointment was perhaps due to his strong Calvinism, which made him acceptable to the Scottish settlers in Ulster. He was among the most zealous signatories of the protestation against the toleration of popery, issued on 26 Nov. 1626, by some [not all, see ] of the Irish hierarchy. Preaching on 11 April 1627 before the lord deputy at Dublin, he read out the protestation in the course of his sermon, adding 'and let all the people say, Amen.' The church shook with the sound of the response, but the deputy (Falkland) disapproved the proceeding, and sent copies of both sermon and protestation to the king. Many years before, Downham had preached a sermon at St. Pauls Cross against Arminianism, and had designed its publication in 1604. When the discourse was at length printed at Dublin, early in 1631, with an appended treatise on '