Downing College

Downing is a College of the University of Cambridge which was founded in 1800 through a bequest made by Sir George Downing. It is home to a lively and diverse scholarly community, including about 420 undergraduates, 220 graduates and 50 fellows, supported by over 130 staff.

The College’s beautiful neo-classical buildings are set in spacious and peaceful gardens in the centre of Cambridge, close to many university departments. Downing was founded by Sir George Downing, third baronet, with wealth left by his grandfather, the first baronet, who served both Cromwell and Charles II and built No.

10 Downing Street, the London home of the Prime Minister. The Founder was born at East Hatley in West Cambridgeshire in 1685 but his mother, a daughter of the Earl of Salisbury, died when he was only three years old and her sister, the wife of Sir William Forester of Dothill Park in Shropshire, took over his upbringing.

She had a daughter Mary, to whom her parents married George when she was 13 and her cousin 15.