Who is downing street named after

He showed himself to be an able diplomat and switched allegiances to Charles II in As proof of his good intentions, Downing handed over some secret documents to the king. His ploy worked. During the restoration of the crown, George organized spy rings that hunted down many of his former comrades who supported Cromwell. John Okey, his former commander and sponsor, was arrested in the Netherlands.

Downing deported him to England, condemning him to a brutal death. Okey was hanged, drawn and quartered. He was extremely unpopular in Holland. After three months he was forced to flee to England, in fear of his life.

For his unauthorized departure, Downing was sent to the Tower of London in but released within a few weeks. George was appreciated by a few influential men from New York. More than any other man he was responsible for arranging the acquisition of New York from the Dutch.

Downing Street in Manhattan and in Brooklyn, N. George Downing died in Cambridge, England, on July 22, , after acquiring a substantial fortune. Prime Ministers and world leaders have been photographed outside this famous door and important announcements have been made to the nation from here. So how did this rather modest looking building become home to the head of the British government?

A maze of corridors and passages join 10 Downing Street to a bigger and grander building just behind it. It also spreads out to the left of the front door, taking over much of 12 Downing Street which is itself connected by a corridor to 11 Downing Street, the official residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The remaining buildings on Downing Street are government offices. Westminster, where Downing Street is situated, has always been an important district in London. King Canute built a palace in the area and Edward the Confessor had a great abbey constructed nearby.

It included real tennis courts, a tiltyard for jousting, a bowling green and a cockpit. Whitehall Palace was the official residence of Tudor and Stuart monarchs until it burned down in The original residence, built on the site of a medieval brewery, is a portal to rooms in several larger houses connected by a warren of hallways and staircases.

For over years, the land now occupied by Downing Street has been at the heart of British power. Born to Puritan parents in Ireland, Downing grew up in the Massachusetts Bay Colony—where his uncle, John Winthrop, served as governor—and was a member of the first graduating class of Harvard College before moving to England. After securing the royal lease, Downing built between 15 and 20 terrace houses on the street that now bears his name.

Although the haphazardly numbered homes—10 Downing Street was actually 5 Downing Street until —were designed by Sir Christopher Wren, they were built on the cheap.

Lords, earls and even a man named Mr. Chicken lived in 10 Downing Street until the early s when King George II presented the terrace house and the large mansion behind it as a personal gift to First Lord of the Treasury Robert Walpole, considered to be the first British prime minister.

Walpole accepted the royal gift with the stipulation that it be available to all future prime ministers.