Dive Downes (b

Thornby, Northamptonshire Thornby is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire in England. It has a Manor house. At the time of the 2001 United Kingdom census, 2001 census, the parish's population was 162 people, increasing to 189 at the 2011 Census. The villag ...

1652 – d

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

1709) was

Bishop of Cork and Ross The Bishop of Cork and Ross is an episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Cork and the County Cork town of Rosscarbery in the Republic of Ireland. The combined title was first used by the Church of Ireland from 1638 to 1660 and ...

from 1699 to 1709. Downes was born in

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, son of the Reverend Lewis Downes. He was educated at

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in 1678. In 1683 he became a

prebendary A prebendary is a member of the Catholic Church, Catholic or Anglicanism , Anglican clergy, a form of canon (priest) , canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in part ...

St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Saint Patrick's Cathedral () in Dublin, Ireland is the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland. Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Christ Church Cathedral, also a Church of Ireland cathedral in Dublin, is designated as the local cathedral of ...

, and in 1690 Archdeacon of Dublin. He was married four times. He married firstly Sarah Dodwell, daughter of Henry Dodwell of

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midland Region, Ir ...

, secondly Anne Carleton, and thirdly Elizabeth Becher, daughter of Thomas Becher of Sherkin and widow of Horatio Townshend, by whom he had a daughter Elizabeth, who married her cousin Henry Baldwin of Mount Pleasant. By his fourth wife Catherine FitzGerald, daughter of the Honorable Robert FitzGerald and Mary Clotworthy, and sister of Robert FitzGerald, 19th Earl of Kildare, he had a son Robert Downes, MP for

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 10,302, making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. It is home to Kildare Cathedral, historically the site of an important abbey said to have been founded by Saint ...

, of Donnybrook Castle, and a daughter Anne. Robert was the father of William Downes, 1st Baron Downes,

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge ...

. Anne married Thomas Burgh and was the mother of Margaretta Foster, 1st Viscountess Ferrard, and grandmother of

Ulysses Burgh, 2nd Baron Downes General Ulysses de Burgh, 2nd Baron Downes (15 August 1788 – 26 July 1864), was an Irish soldier and Tory (political faction), Tory politician. A General in the British Army, he served as Surveyor-General of the Ordnance under Robert Jenk ...

. He was a conscientious bishop, and in 1699–1700 he visited every parish in his

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

: his "Visitation of Cork" has survived.''An Irishman's Diary'' "Irish Times" 31/07/2012.

References

1652 births 1709 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Bishops of Cork and Ross (Church of Ireland) 17th-century Anglican bishops in Ireland 18th-century Anglican bishops in Ireland Archdeacons of Dublin People from West Northamptonshire District {{Ireland-Anglican-bishop-stub