Roger Downes (died 1638) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

in 1601 and from 1621 to 1622. Wardley Hall

Downes was the son Roger Downes of Shrigley, Cheshire. He was a student of

Staple Inn Staple Inn is a part- Tudor building on the south side of High Holborn street in the City of London, London, England. Located near Chancery Lane tube station, it is used as the London venue for meetings of the Institute and Faculty of Actuar ...

and then of

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in 1589 and was called to the bar in 1599. In 1601, he was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

for

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

. At about this time, he acquired

Wardley Hall Wardley may refer to: Organisations * Wardley (company), a fish food manufacturer *Wardley, a former merchant banking division of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation People * John Wardley (born 1950), English concept designer and develo ...

, a moated manor house with a private chapel and twenty bedrooms. He was summer reader for Grey's Inn in 1615. In 1621 he was elected MP for Wigan again. He was dean of the chapel of Gray's Inn in 1624. In 1625 he was vice-chamberlain of Cheshire. He was treasurer of Gray's Inn in 1628. History of Parliament Online - Roger Downes
/ref> Downes died in 1638 and was buried in Wigan on 6 July. Downes' first marriage was to Elizabeth Gerard, daughter of Miles Gerard of Ince, and took place in Wigan on 23 April 1601. She gave birth to a son, but he died in 1602. Downes' second marriage was to Anne Calvert, daughter of John Calvert of Cockeram. She bore two sons and one daughter. Anne was a Catholic, and their second son,

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome * Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) Places *Rural ...

, who was also MP for Wigan, later converted.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downes, Roger Year of birth missing 1638 deaths Members of Gray's Inn English MPs 1601 English MPs 1621–1622