Dive Downes

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Dive Downes (b Thornby, Northamptonshire 1652 – d Dublin 1709) was Bishop of Cork and Ross from 1699 to 1709.{{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology |edition=Third |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1986 |isbn=0-521-56350-X |pages=385–386}}

Downes was born in Northamptonshire, son of the Reverend Lewis Downes. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin."Alumni Dublinenses: a register of the students, graduates, professors and provosts of Trinity College in the University of Dublin (1593-1860). Burtchaell, G. D./Sadlier, T. U. p. 241: Dublin, Alex Thom and Co, 1935. He was ordained in 1678."Fasti Ecclesiae Hibernicae: The succession of the prelates Volume 2" Cotton, H. p. 351 Dublin, Hodges & Smith, 1848-1878 In 1683 he became a prebendary of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin,"Fasti Ecclesiae Hibernicae: The succession of the prelates Volume 2" Cotton, H. p. 149 Dublin, Hodges & Smith, 1848-1878 and in 1690 Archdeacon of Dublin."Fasti Ecclesiae Hibernicae: The succession of the prelates Volume 2" Cotton, H. p. 130 Dublin, Hodges & Smith, 1848-1878.

He was married four times. He married firstly Sarah Dodwell, daughter of Henry Dodwell of Athlone, 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, of Donnybrook Castle, and a daughter Anne. Robert was the father of William Downes, 1st Baron Downes, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. Anne married Thomas Burgh and was the mother of Margaretta Foster, 1st Viscountess Ferrard, and grandmother of Ulysses Burgh, 2nd Baron Downes.Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh "Burke's Irish Family Records" London 1976 p.338

He was a conscientious bishop, and in 1699–1700 he visited every parish in his diocese: his "Visitation of Cork" has survived.An Irishman's Diary "Irish Times" 31/07/2012.