The Reverend George Edward Downe was born in Kent, the son of Thomas Downe, vicar, and his wife Mary. George was baptised on 19 October 1807 in Elham and had three sisters – Mary, baptised in 1802, Elizabeth Ann, baptised 1803 and Charlotte Matilda, baptised 1805. Like his father, George went to Cambridge University where he studied at Corpus Christie, obtaining his B.A. in 1830. He was ordained as a deacon at Canterbury in 1832 and ordained a priest in 1833. He served as curate to his father at Lydden, Kent from 1832 before becoming curate at Rushden in 1836. In the letter which he wrote to his patroness Mrs Marsh in 1838, George refers to the recent deaths of both of his parents. Thomas Downe died of influenza combined with severe depression following the death of his wife. George bemoaned the fact that his sisters had been left almost destitute but regretted that he himself was in no position to help them.

Shortly after his arrival in Rushden George married, on 21 December 1836, Miss Elizabeth Tunnard, the daughter of Charles Keightly Tunnard and his wife Charlotte. Charles and Charlotte had moved from Frampton in Lincolnshire where Elizabeth had been born, to live in Rushden Cottage.

The parish registers show the baptisms of the children of George and Elizabeth:

The 1841 census shows George and Elizabeth living at the Rectory House with their first two children. Also in the house were Elizabeth Ann White, aged 55 and of independent means, and Eleanor White aged 19. Although the relationships are not given in the census, Elizabeth was George’s sister and Eleanor was her daughter. In 1851 they are living in Dover with the other two sisters, Mary and Charlotte, both unmarried. Elizabeth was married but no husband was in evidence and she described herself as the head of the household, and a lodging house keeper.

In 1842 the previous Rector of Rushden died and both George and Elizabeth made strenuous efforts to ensure that George should become the next incumbent. They were successful, and George was instituted rector of Rushden on 2 May 1843.

1841 was the last census to show George and Elizabeth’s family all living together. In the 1851 census, George was staying in Claremont Row, Islington, in a house belonging to James Sudbury, a potato merchant. His wife Elizabeth had moved to Boston in Lincolnshire taking most of her children with her. A further daughter, Frances, aged 2, had been born but the eldest daughter, Mary Jane, had been sent to school in Panton, some 30 miles away.

 In 1861 George was back in Rushden and living in a house in the High Street  with just a housekeeper and her 7 year old grandson for company. Elizabeth and five of her daughters, Mary, Charlotte, Lucy, Margaret and Frances, had moved to live by the sea at Cleethorpes. Her son, Charles, was living in Hampstead with his uncle Bartholomew Claypen, a banker. Besides Charles and Bartholomew, the household consisted of a butler, a coachman, a footman, a housekeeper, a cook, upper and under housemaids and a kitchen maid.  Charles was working as a clerk in an insurance office.

George Downe died and was buried in Elham, Kent, in 1868. The 1871 census shows Elizabeth had moved to London herself, to Putney, where she was reunited with her son Charles, still a clerk in an insurance office. Despite their separation, there must have been some communication between George and Elizabeth as she had always previously described herself as married, but in this census she said she was a widow.  Five of her children were still living with her – Mary Jane, Charles, Charlotte, May [Margaret] and Frances.  It is not until 1881 that there is any indication of how Elizabeth had managed to support herself and her family, but in the census of that year, when she was living in Edinburgh Mansion, Westminster, she said that her income was derived from interest on mortgages and ground rents. Mary, Charles, Charlotte and Margaret were also living with her, their ages ranging from 34 to 42.

By 1891 Elizabeth had moved to Fulham where she lived with her three daughters Charlotte, Clara and Margaret. Charles was married and also lived in Fulham. Lucy had married in 1865 and had lived in a number of places, including Dulverton in Somerset. She had retained a close relationship with her sisters, as in the 1871 census Clara was staying with her, while in 1891 it was Mary’s turn to visit her in Hampstead.

Elizabeth died at the end of 1898 but in 1901 Charlotte, Clara and Margaret were still together in Fulham, all unmarried and living on independent means. 

George and Elizabeth had married in 1836 but seem to have spent little more than a dozen years together. Elizabeth had added her efforts to those of her husband when they were trying to obtain for him the living of Rushden, but when this had been achieved in 1843, before too much time had gone by, George was left on his own while his wife and children led their own separate, lives.