Editing Viscount Downe (section)

{{Short description|Title in the peerage of Ireland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox nobility title
| name              = Viscountcy of Downe 
| image             = [[File:Coronet of a British Viscount.svg|150px]]<br />[[File:Arms of Dawnay.svg|180px]] 
| image_size        =  
| alt               =  
| caption           = ''Argent on a bendlet cotised sable three annulets of the field''<ref>{{cite book|last1=Burke|first1=Bernard|title=The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales,|date=2009|publisher=Heritage Books|page=269|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YMmX7QdO-OkC&pg=PA269|access-date=13 September 2015|isbn=9780788437199}}</ref>
| creation_date     = 19 July 1675 <small>(first creation)</small> <br />19 February 1680 <small>(second creation)</small> 
| creation          =  
| monarch           = [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] 
| peerage           = [[Peerage of Ireland]] 
| baronetage        =  
| first_holder      = [[William Ducie, 1st Viscount Downe|William Ducie]] <small>(first creation)</small><br /> [[John Dawnay, 1st Viscount Downe|John Dawnay]] <small>(second creation)</small> 
| last_holder       =  
| present_holder    = [[Richard Dawnay, 12th Viscount Downe|Richard Henry Dawnay, 12th Viscount Downe]] 
| heir_apparent     =  
| heir_presumptive  = Thomas Payan Dawnay 
| remainder_to      =  
| subsidiary_titles = Baron Dawnay 
| status            =  
| extinction_date   =  
| family_seat       = [[Wykeham Abbey]] 
| former_seat       = [[Cowick Hall]], Dawnay Lodge, [[Danby Castle]] 
| motto             = ''Timet pudorem'' "He fears shame")<ref name="burke">{{cite book |title= Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood|publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry |editor= Mosley, Charles |edition=107 |year= 2003 |pages=1172–1175 |ref=Burke |isbn=0-9711966-2-1}}</ref> 
| footnotes         =  
}}
{{Infobox coat of arms
|name             = Heraldic achievement of the Viscounts Downe
|image            = Downe_Arms.jpeg
|alt              = 
|image_width      = 
|middle           = 
|middle_width     = 
|middle_caption   = 
|lesser           = 
|lesser_alt       = 
|lesser_width     = 
|lesser_caption   = 
|image2           = 
|image2_alt       = 
|image2_width     = 
|image2_caption   = 
|image3           = 
|image3_alt       = 
|image3_width     = 
|image3_caption   = 
|armiger          = 
|year_adopted     = 
|until            =
|crest            = A demi Saracen in armour, couped at the thighs and wreathed about the temples ppr. holding in the dexter hand a ring gold, stoned az. and in the sinister a lion's gamb erased or, armed ge.
|torse            = 
|shield           = ''Argent on a bendlet cotised sable three annulets of the field''
|supporter        = 
|supporters       = Two lions or, gorged with a fesse cotised ea. charged with three annulets ar. ducally crowned of the last
|compartment      = 
|motto            = ''Timet pudorem'' ("He fears shame")
|orders           = 
|badge            =
|other_elements   = 
|earlier_versions = 
|use              = 
|notes            = 
}}

'''Viscount Downe''' is a title that has been created twice in the [[Peerage of Ireland]]. The first creation came in 1675 for [[William Ducie, 1st Viscount Downe|William Ducie]]. However, the title became extinct on his death in 1679. The second creation came in 1680 for [[John Dawnay, 1st Viscount Downe|John Dawnay]]. He had earlier represented [[Yorkshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Yorkshire]] and [[Pontefract (UK Parliament constituency)|Pontefract]] in the [[British House of Commons|English House of Commons]]. His son, the second Viscount, also represented these constituencies in the House of Commons. His grandson, the third Viscount, sat as a [[member of parliament]] for [[Yorkshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Yorkshire]] but died from wounds received at the [[Battle of Campen]] in 1760. He was succeeded by his younger brother, the fourth Viscount, who represented [[Cirencester (UK Parliament constituency)|Cirencester]] and [[Malton (UK Parliament constituency)|Malton]] in Parliament.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Peerage of Ireland: A Genealogical and Historical Account... |volume=2 |date=1768 |pages=56–57 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JW8UAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA57 |access-date=11 September 2015}}</ref>

His son, the fifth Viscount, sat as a member of parliament for [[Petersfield (UK Parliament constituency)|Petersfield]] and [[Wootton Basset (UK Parliament constituency)|Wootton Bassett]]. In 1797, he was created '''Baron Dawnay''', of [[Cowick Hall|Cowick]] in the County of York, in the [[Peerage of Great Britain]]. However, this title became extinct on his death while he was succeeded in the viscountcy by his younger brother, the sixth Viscount. His son, the seventh Viscount, was a member of parliament for [[Rutland (UK Parliament constituency)|Rutland]]. His son, the eighth Viscount, was a [[Major-General]] in the Army and served in the [[Anglo-Zulu War]] of 1879 and in the [[Second Boer War]]. In 1897, he was created '''Baron Dawnay''', of Danby in the North Riding of the County of York, in the [[Peerage of the United Kingdom]]. This peerage gave him and his descendants an automatic seat in the [[House of Lords]] until the passing of the [[House of Lords Act 1999]]. {{As of|2015}}, the titles are held by his great-great-grandson, the twelfth Viscount, who succeeded his father in 2002.

The Hon. [[Guy Dawnay (politician)|Guy Dawnay]], fourth son of the seventh Viscount, was a soldier and Conservative politician.

The first Viscount of the second creation was the brother of Sir Christopher Dawnay, 1st Baronet, of Cowick, a title which became extinct in 1644 (see [[Dawnay baronets|Dawnay baronets, of Cowick]]).

The family seat is [[Wykeham Abbey]], near [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire]].