Downing died at his seat, Gamlingay Park, Cambridgeshire, 10 June 1749 (Gent. Mag. xix. 284), having, says Cole, ‘for the latter art of his life led a most miserable, covetous, and sordid existence’ (Addit. MSS. 5808, f. 36). To a natural daughter he left an annuity of 500l., and her mother, Mary Townsend, an annuity of 200l. (codicil to will, dated 23 Dec. 1727). By will dated 20 Dec. 1717 he devised estates in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, and Suffolk to certain trustees, in trust for his cousin Jacob Garret (or Garrard) Downing, and his issue in strict settlement, with remainder to other relatives in like manner. In case of the failure of such issue, the trustees were directed to purchase ‘some piece of ground lying and being in the town of Cambridge, proper and convenient for the erecting and building a college, which college shall be called by the name of Downing's [sic] College; and my will is, that a charter royal be sued for and obtained for the founding such college, and incorporating a body collegiate by that name.’ Upon his will being proved, 13 June 1749 (registered in P. C. C. 179, Lisle), it was found that the trustees had all died before him. His cousin, on whom the estates devolved, died without issue, 6 Feb. 1764 (Gent. Mag. xxxiv. 97); and all the parties entitled in remainder had previously died, also without issue. In the same year, 1764, an information was filed in the court of chancery at the relation of the chancellor, masters, and scholars of the university against the heirs-at-law. The lord chancellor gave judgment 3 July 1769, ‘declaring the will of the testator well proved, and that the same ought to be established, and the trusts thereof performed and carried into execution, in case the king should be pleased to grant a royal charter to incorporate the college.’ The estates, however, were in possession of Lady Downing, and afterwards of her devisees, without any real title; and the opposition raised by them, with the further litigation consequent upon it, delayed the charter for more than thirty years. It passed the great seal 22 Sept. 1800. After a deal of hesitation about the selection of an architect, the younger Wilkins was appointed, and the first stone laid on 18 May 1807.
[Burke's Extinct Baronetage, p. 164; Willis and Clark's Architectural Hist. of the Univ. of Cambridge, ii. 755; Charter of Downing College, 4to, London, 1800.]
DOWNMAN, HUGH, M.D. (1740–1809), physician and poet, son of Hugh Downman of Newton House, Newton St. Cyres, Exeter, was educated at the Exeter grammar school. He entered Balliol College, Oxford, 1758, proceeded B.A. 1763, and was ordained in Exeter Cathedral the same year. His clerical prospects being very small, he went to Edinburgh to study medicine, and boarded with Thomas Blacklock [q. v.] In 1768 he published ‘The Land of the Muses; a poem in the manner of Spenser, by H. D.’ In 1769 he visited London for hospital practice, and in 1770, after proceeding M.A. at Jesus College, Cambridge, he practised medicine at Exeter, where he married the daughter of Dr. Andrew. A chronic complaint in 1778 compelled him to retire for a time. His best-known poem, ‘ Infancy, or the Management of Children,’ was published in three separate parts: i. 1774, ii. 1775, iii. 1776, London, 4to. A seventh edition was issued in 1809. In 1775 appeared ‘The Drama,’ London, 4to; ‘An Elegy written under a Gallows,’ London, 4to; and ‘The Soliloquy,’ Edinburgh, 4to. During his retirement he also published ‘Lucius Junius Brutus,’ five acts, London, 1779 (not performed); ‘Belisarius,’ played in Exeter theatre for a few nights; and ‘Editha, a Tragedy,’ Exeter, 1784—founded on a local incident, and performed for sixteen nights. These plays appeared in one volume as ‘Tragedies, by H. D., M.D.,’ Exeter, 1792, 8vo. He also published ‘Poems to Thespia,’ Exeter, 1781, 8vo, and ‘The Death Song of Ragnar Lodbrach,’ translated from the Latin of Olaus Wormius, London, 1781, 4to. He was one of the translators of an edition of Voltaire's works in English, London, 8vo, 1781. In 1791 he published ‘Poems,’ second edition, London, 8vo, comprising the ‘Land of the Muses’ (with a second version) and ‘Ragnar Lodbrach.’ He was also contributor to Mr. Polwhele's ‘Collections of the Poetry of Devon and Cornwall.’
Downman seems to have resumed medical practice at Exeter about 1790, and in 1796 he founded there a literary society of twelve members. A volume of the essays was printed, and a second volume is said to exist in manuscript. Downman wrote the opening address, and essays on ‘Serpent Worship,’ on the ‘Shields of Hercules and Achilles,’ and on ‘Pindar,’ with a translation of the 11th Pythian and 2nd Isthmian odes. In 1805 Downman finally relinquished his practice on account of ill-health. In 1808 the literary society was discontinued. On 23 Sept. 1809 he died at Alphington, near Exeter, with the reputation of an able and humane physician and a most amiable man. Two years before he died an anonymous editor collected and published the various critical opinions and complimentary verses on his poems, Isaac D'Israeli's (1792) being among them.
