He’s Crafty: How George Downing Kept His Head

Today, Sir George Downing is remembered, if at all, for the street and row of brick houses in London that bear his name. This happens to be the address of Britain’s prime ministers, the place where the cabinet meets and where the organs of the British state are meant to be held accountable to the will of the people. It is a great irony then, and perhaps mildly appropriate, that Downing the man was as cynical and traitorous a figure as the 17th century ever produced. Winston Churchill, while residing in his edificial legacy nearly three centuries later, would remember him unflatteringly as "a profiteering contractor." All but forgotten however are the elaborate contours of Downing’s career: spy, diplomat, financier, parliamentarian, early New Englander, and member of Harvard’s first graduating class.

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