Downe was returned to Parliament as one of two representatives for
Rutland in 1841, a seat he held until 1846. The latter year he succeeded his father in the viscountcy. However, as this was an
Irish peerage it did not entitle him to a seat in the
House of Lords.
Family
Lord Downe married Mary Isabel, daughter of the Right Reverend
Richard Bagot, in 1843. They had eight sons and two daughters:
Hon. Lt. Eustace Henry Dawnay (15 April 1850 – 15 December 1928), Coldstream Guards, married Lady Evelyn de Vere Capell, daughter of Arthur de Vere Capell, Viscount Malden, and had issue
Hon. Capt. William Frederick Dawnay (14 October 1851 – 29 September 1904), Staffordshire Militia, married Lady Adelaide Parker, daughter of
Thomas Parker, 6th Earl of Macclesfield and had issue
Hon. Geoffrey Nicolas Dawnay (13 December 1852 – 31 December 1941), married Emily Bulteel and had issue
Hon. Capt. (Temp. Maj.) Francis Herbert Dawnay (11 December 1853 – 26 June 1914), Yorkshire Hussars, barrister
Hon. Alice Isabell Dawnay (1855 – 8 October 1929)
Hon. Edith Mary Dawnay (1856 – 15 July 1941), married Robert Grant-Suttie and had issue
He died in January 1857, aged 44, and was succeeded in the viscountcy by his eldest son,
Hugh. Lady Downe later remarried and died in April 1900. Lord Downe, his wife and her second husband, are buried in the churchyard of the
Church of St James, Baldersby in
North Yorkshire.[1]
References
^"Our Church". St James, Baldersby St James. Retrieved 6 June 2017.