Hugh Dawnay, 8th Viscount Downe


Hugh Richard Dawnay, 8th Viscount Downe, was a British Army general and President of the Marylebone Cricket Club.

Early life

Dawnay was the second son of William Dawnay, 7th Viscount Downe and his wife Mary Isabel Bagot, daughter of Richard Bagot, Bishop of Bath and Wells. His younger brother, Lewis Payn Dawnay, was MP for Thirsk.
In 1857, Dawnay succeeded his father, who died in his forties. He was educated at Eton College and attended Christ Church, Oxford.

Career

Lord Downe was an officer in the 2nd Regiment of Life Guards, where he was promoted to captain on 25 June 1873. He fought in the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879, for which he was mentioned in despatches. He was Lieutenant-Colonel of the 10th Hussars between 1887 and 1892. From 1899 to 1900 he served as a staff officer in the Second Boer War in South Africa, where he was deputed to accompany the military attachés representing foreign powers. He was mentioned in despatches twice, in a despatch dated 31 March 1900 the Commander-in-Chief Lord Roberts stated that he "discharged his duties with tact and discretion".
After his return to the United Kingdom, Lord Downe was in March 1901 asked by King Edward VII to take part in a special diplomatic mission to announce the King's accession to the governments of Belgium, Bavaria, Italy, Württemberg, and The Netherlands.
In July 1901 he was promoted to the temporary rank of Brigadier general on the Staff to command the Cavalry Brigade at the Curragh, where training for fighting in South Africa took place. In December 1901 her received the local rank of major-general whilst so employed. He retired from the army on 30 July 1902, and was granted the honourable rank of major-general.
Lord Downe was the author of a 1902 report to inquire into the working of the British Army Remount Department in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The report, which was especially critical of the supply of horses during the recent war in South Africa, was published in a government blue-book with other such reports.

Honours

Downe was created Baron Dawnay, of Danby in the North Riding of the County of York, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, on 24 July 1897 and subsequently sat in the House of Lords. He was invested as a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1886, and Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1900 for services in South Africa. He was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in the November 1902 Birthday Honours list, and promoted to a Knight Commander of the same order in December 1902.

Cricket

A cricketer he played for I Zingari and the MCC, playing in the Aborigines v MCC test at Lord's in 1868 in the first tour of England by an Australian team. He became President of the MCC in 1872

Personal life

On 12 July 1869, Lord Downe was married to Lady Cecilia Maria Charlotte Molyneux, the only daughter of Charles Molyneux, 3rd Earl of Sefton and the former Mary Augusta Gregge-Hopwood. They had five children:
After Lady Downe's death, he remarried on 27 July 1911 to Florence Faith Dening, a daughter of Rev. Thomas Henry Dening, the Vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Kilburn. Lord Downe died on 21 January 1924. After his death, his widow remarried to Rev. Arthur Maxwell Bury, Vicar of Loose, Maidstone, on 15 April 1931.