[2] Cal. of St Pap.; Dom. (1661-1662) p. 408; Notes and Queries, ix. ser. vii. 92.
[3] Diary, March 12, 17, 1662.
[4] Ib. May 27, 1667.
[5] Sibley, i. 46.
DOWNMAN, JOHN (1750-1824), English portrait painter, was the son of Francis Downman, attorney, of St Neots, by Charlotte Goodsend, eldest daughter of the private secretary to George I.; his grandfather, Hugh Downman (1672-1729), having been the master of the House of Ordnance at Sheerness. He is believed to have been born near Ruabon, educated first at Chester, then at Liverpool, and finally at the Royal Academy schools, and he was for a while in the studio of Benjamin West. His exquisite pencil portrait drawings, slightly tinted in colour, usually from the reverse, are well known, and many of them are of remarkable beauty. Several volumes of sketches for these drawings are still in existence. Downman is believed to have been “pressed” for the navy as a young man, and on his escape settled down for a while in Cambridge, eventually coming to London, and later (1804) going to reside in Kent in the village of West Malling. He afterwards spent some part of his life in the west of England, especially in Exeter, and then travelled all over the country painting his dainty portraits. In 1818 he settled down at Chester, finally removing to Wrexham, where his only daughter married and where he died and was buried. He was an associate of the Royal Academy. The Downman family is usually known as a Devonshire one, but the exact connexion between the artist and the Devonshire branch has not been traced. Many of his portraits have attached to them remarks of considerable importance respecting the persons represented.
See John Downman, his Life and Works, by G. C. Williamson (London, 1907).
(G. C. W.)
DOWNPATRICK, a market town and the county town of Co. Down, Ireland, in the east parliamentary division, 28 m. S.S.E. of Belfast by the Belfast & County Down railway. Pop. (1901) 2993. It stands picturesquely on a sloping site near the south-west extremity of Strangford Lough. It is the seat of the Protestant and Roman Catholic dioceses of Down. St Patrick founded the see about 440, but the present Protestant cathedral dates from 1790, the old structure, after suffering many vicissitudes, having been in ruins for 250 years. The cathedral is said to contain the remains of its founder, together with those of St Columba and St Bridget. A round tower adjoining it was destroyed in 1790. A small trade is carried on at Strangford Lough by means of vessels up to 100 tons, which discharge at Quoile quay, about 1 m. from the town; but vessels of larger tonnage can discharge at a steamboat quay lower down the Quoile. The imports are principally iron, coal, salt and timber; the exports barley, oats, cattle, pigs and potatoes. Linen manufacture is also carried on, and brewing, tanning and soap-making give considerable employment. The Down corporation race-meeting is important and attracts visitors from far outside the county. The rath or dun from which the town is named remains as one of the finest in Ireland. It was called Rath-Keltair, or the rath of the hero Keltar, and covers an area of 10 acres. In the vicinity of the town are remnants of the monastery of Saul, a foundation ascribed to St Patrick, and of Inch Abbey (1180), founded by Sir John de Courcy. Three miles south is a fine stone circle, and to the south-east are the wells of Struell, famous as miraculous healers among the peasantry until modern times. The town is of extreme antiquity. It was called Dun-leth-glas, the fort of the broken fetters, from the miraculous deliverance from bondage of two sons of Dichu, prince of Lecale, and the first convert of St Patrick. It is the Dunum of Ptolemy, and was a residence of the kings of Ulster. It was already incorporated early in the 15th century. It returned two members to the Irish parliament until the Union in 1800, and thereafter one to the Imperial parliament until 1832.