Jamaica's history - always something new to find out!
  • home
    • start here >
      • links
      • about me
      • my blog >
        • comments
      • another blog
      • facebook page
      • just something special
    • my articles >
      • Sam Sharpe - a note 1831
      • PKB Memorial Fund
      • Mrs Seacole & Queen Emma
      • 1891 Exhibition
      • All but unique: H. A. Joseph
      • Three Historic Buildings
      • Andrew Bogle
      • Jamaican politics 1866-1920
  • people
    • - 'ordinary' people >
      • 'extraordinary' lives >
        • Marie Francis
        • William Henry Hinson
        • James H Blackwood >
          • teacher
          • politician
          • bee-farmer
          • Human Rights activist
    • remarkable families >
      • family of C E Moody >
        • Harold Moody
        • Elise Moody
        • Charles Aston Moody
        • Ludlow Moody
        • Ronald Moody
        • Locksley Moody
      • family of R M Nicholas
      • family of C A D Phang >
        • Rosalind
        • May
        • Hilda
      • family of H B Phillips
      • family of A T Stewart
    • in the churches >
      • George Fox and early Friends >
        • 1692 and beyond
      • Rev. S. J. Washington
      • Rev. W. Theo Bailey
      • Rev. E. E. Brown
      • Rev. I. N. D. Gordon
      • Rev. J. J. Fuller
      • Church of England >
        • Rev. Francis Humberstone
        • Rev. J. M. Trew
        • Edward Maunde Thompson
        • Rev. R. Gordon
        • Rev Dr Hugh Croskery
        • Rev. T. Banbury
        • Rev. R. O. Taylor
        • Rev. H. L. Phillips >
          • as an Episcopalian priest
        • Rev. C. C. Douce
        • Rev. A. Cole
        • A. L. "Teacher" Walcott
        • Rev. and Mrs W. A. Burris
        • Rev. W. L. Brown
      • the Moravians >
        • Rev. W. V. Moses
    • in education >
      • brief lives >
        • Thomas Terence Sherlock
      • Francis Williams
      • ~ Woodlawn 1896
      • Matthew Josephs
      • T. B. Stephenson
      • Robert Lindsay
      • W Thomas Linton
      • S. C. Thompson
      • W. H. Plant
      • Sigismund C. Walker
      • Thomas I. Brown
      • E. Luther Brookes
    • in legal professions >
      • Peter Moncrieffe
      • J. T. Palache
      • A. A. Fleming
      • H. R. Walters
      • H. A. Joseph
      • M. H. Spencer Joseph
      • J. L. King
    • in medical professions >
      • - doctors >
        • Sampson Altman
        • J. J. Edwards
        • A. J. Thomas
        • R. M. Stimpson
        • E. C. Kinkead
        • E. V. Smith
        • T. A. Dryden
        • Cicely Williams
        • Roderick Atkinson
        • - in the U.S.A. >
          • Simeon I. Battiste
          • David Newton Emanuel Campbell >
            • portable window fire-escape ladder
          • A. E. Forsyth
      • - dentists >
        • Pedro Pompey
        • A. T. Cooper
        • E. E. Clark
        • J. H. Nicholson
      • - dispensers >
        • Anthan F Berry
        • Charles E Moody
      • - nurses
      • - psychiatrists
    • in politics & public affairs >
      • early Black politicians [slideshow]
      • Edward Jordon
      • Jim Russell >
        • the 'Great War'
      • Colonel George Hicks
      • Samuel Page Smeeton
    • in business >
      • drogher/droguer women
      • Edward Vickars
      • Charles Phillip Lazarus >
        • Charles Philip Lazarus remembered
        • foundry >
          • - 'City of Kingston'
          • - Jamaica Cycle Company
        • building contracts
        • politics and public affairs >
          • 1909 Party of Progress
      • J. H. & J. O. Milke
      • beekeepers >
        • Hill/Darwin correspondence
      • Robert Mitchell Nicholas
      • Joseph Milward Gordon >
        • Gall's News Letter 1890
      • John Cassis
      • Jacob Hume Stewart
      • Christopher L Barnes
      • Ernest Clarke
      • Lance E. Drysdale
    • on the land >
      • John S. Levy
    • in sports >
      • athletics >
        • Alfred Reynolds Downer >
          • education
          • athletics career >
            • - amateur
            • - professional
          • . . . but after that
      • boxing
      • chess >
        • Arthur Ford Mackenzie >
          • tributes
      • cricket >
        • J. K. Holt, snr
        • S C Snow
        • O. C. 'Tommy' Scott
      • cycling >
        • Johnnie Weir
        • A. A. "Bill" Johnson
        • Washington 'Teacher' Battiste
      • football
      • horse racing
      • tennis
    • Maroons in Jamaica >
      • Gleaner references
      • 1796 Richard Brinsley Sheridan
      • 1802 Maria, Lady Nugent
      • 1836 Popular Encyclopedia
      • 1844 Edwin Tregellies
      • 1844 Philip Henry Gosse
      • 1859 Richard Hill
      • 1860 Atlantic Monthly
      • 1862 Edward Cust
      • 1865 Col. Fyfe
      • 1865 Once a Week
      • 1866 Charles Town Maroons
      • 1867 Trip to the Tropics
      • 1890 Historical Geography
      • 1898 New York Tribune
      • 1898 Edith, Lady Blake
      • my articles: >
        • 1996 'Trouble with the Maroons'
        • 2001 'A brave and loyal people'
    • . . . some more Jamaicans
    • and even more
  • places
    • Kingston & St Andrew >
      • various places >
        • Knutsford Pen
      • street corner cannons
      • the Old H-W-T Courthouse >
        • four 18th century houses >
          • Hibbert House >
            • Hibbert House - over time
          • Constantine House
          • Bull House >
            • Peter Blaise Desnoes
            • North Street Villa
          • Harmony Hall
        • 19th century
      • Kingston Market
      • Kingston Race Course >
        • Pratter's/Prater's Pond
      • Retreat Pen >
        • Peter Alexander Espeut >
          • P A Espeut interview
      • Waireka >
        • a trip to 'Wareka' 1896
      • Park Lodge >
        • Susan and Mary Burton >
          • Mount Mansfield
      • Date Tree Hall >
        • Blundell/Blundle Hall
        • Barkly/Clarendon Hall
      • the Parade >
        • - the Church
        • - Barracks
        • - Theatre
        • - Coke Chapel
        • - other buildings
        • Parade Gardens
      • Harbour Street >
        • The Treasury >
          • the Treasury clock
        • Streadwick's Marine Gardens
        • Breezy Castle
      • Up Park Camp
      • Admiral's Pen
      • Rockford Gardens
      • "Babbin's" Church
    • other parishes >
      • Old Harbour
      • Bog Walk Gorge
      • Fern Gully
      • Moneague Lakes
      • Colbeck Castle
      • Blue Mountain Estate
    • Botanical Gardens >
      • Wallen's Cold Spring
  • institutions
    • education >
      • elementary & all-age schools >
        • West Branch
        • Miss Knibb's School, Falmouth
      • secondary schools >
        • Collegiate School >
          • 1850s & '60s
          • 1870s
          • 1880s
          • 1890s
          • 1900 & after
          • headmasters
          • alumni
          • cricket
        • Potsdam
        • York Castle
        • Mary Villa College
        • Kingston High School for Girls
        • Kingston Technical High School
      • tertiary institutions >
        • 'the Mico'
        • Montego Bay Academy
        • University College
        • Kingston Commercial College
    • culture >
      • Victoria Institute >
        • - 'Victoria Quarterly'
    • sport >
      • athletics
      • boxing
      • cricket >
        • Kingston Cricket Club
        • Clovelly Cricket Club
      • cycling
      • football
      • golf
      • horse racing
      • tennis
    • security >
      • constabulary
      • West India Regiments
  • the arts
    • theatre >
      • Kingston's theatres >
        • Kingston Theatre
        • Theatre Royal
        • new Theatre Royal
        • Aaron Mendes Sollas >
          • Joshua A M Sollas
          • the Sollas family in Jamaica
      • actors & actresses >
        • Rudolph De Cordova
      • the comic tradition >
        • the Murray family >
          • H. G. Murray
          • A. C. Murray
          • W. C. Murray
          • legacy
          • Dr R. O. Murray
        • Lionel Trim
      • magic >
        • Prof. W. A. Barclay
    • magic lantern & beyond
    • literature
    • music and dance >
      • the classical musicians >
        • - Eleanor Alberga
        • ~ Neville Atkinson
        • - Nerine Barrett
        • - Richard Beckford
        • - Harold St Nicholas Cartier
        • - Frederic H. Cowen
        • - Noel DaCosta
        • - Louis Drysdale
        • - Samuel Felsted
        • - Maxine Franklin
        • - George and Hilda Goode
        • - David Johns
        • - John Lyon
        • - Marie McMarrow
        • - Edmund Reid
        • - Orrett Rhoden
        • - Oswald Russell
        • - Paul Shaw
        • - Don Shirley
        • - Stephen Tucker
        • - George Walker
        • - Curtis Watson
        • - Willard White
      • Jamaica Choir
      • 'practice dances'
    • art >
      • painting >
        • Zithri J Atkinson >
          • Bruce Grit article
        • Frederic E Church
      • sculpture
      • photography
  • events
    • & everything else >
      • - manumissions
      • - drugs >
        • - tobacco
        • - opium
        • - cocaine
        • - cannabis >
          • 1913 legislation
    • public holidays >
      • crop-over
      • May 24th
      • June 7 >
        • Port Royal 1667
        • Great Earthquake 1692
      • August 1st >
        • 1888 - 50 years
      • Christmas >
        • 18th century
        • 19th century >
          • Christmas with Belisario
          • Christmas in Kingston >
            • - Creole Airs
            • Christmas at the Asylum
          • and across the island
          • Christmas Races
        • early 20th century
        • lotteries & raffles
      • other days >
        • Valentine's Day
        • Mother's Day
    • exhibitions >
      • 1891 >
        • the phonograph
        • merry-go-rounds
        • Amphitrite
      • 1932 >
        • the Exhibition starts >
          • a walk around the Exhibition
        • Exhibition extended
        • Exhibition sports
        • - D T Wint
        • - 'Exhibition' Beecher
        • - W A W Mitchell
        • - L. A. Thoywell-Henry
      • 1934
      • 1946 - Exhibition that wasn't
    • natural disasters >
      • earthquakes >
        • - 1692
        • - 1907 >
          • Kingston burning
          • reports >
            • map
            • - Capt. T. T. Lovelace
          • damage
          • who was Joseph E Thomas?
          • afterwards
        • - smaller 'quakes
      • hurricanes >
        • Jamaica's climate
        • Dampier and hurricanes
        • 18th century >
          • 1780s - hurricane decade
        • 19th century >
          • - 1815
          • 1830s & 1840s
          • 1870s & 1880s
        • 20th century
        • 21st century
      • fires >
        • 1843 >
          • 1843 Colonial Magazine
        • 1862
        • 1875
        • 1882
      • diseases >
        • cholera
        • 'Dandy fever'
        • "Spanish" 'flu
sports  >
athletics  >
Alfred Reynolds Downer
education  >
athletics career  >
. . . but after that ?  >

Alfred Reynolds Downer, 1873-1912, - champion athlete

'Alfred Downer was the fastest man in Victorian England.' Harry Pearson

'The Jamaican-born Scot was the pre-eminent sprinter of the late-Victorian era.'  Harry Pearson
Picture
    Alfred Reynolds Downer was born at Shands Pen, May Pen, Clarendon, on January 23, 1873, and was baptised on June 1, 1873, by George William Downer, his uncle, then 'Island Curate' at St. Gabriel's, Four Paths, Clarendon.
   His parents were Walter Daley Downer and Mary Reynolds King, who had been married in Kingston in 1869.
Picture
Register of Baptisms Kept by George W Downer Minister in the parish of Clarendon in the County of Middlesex in the year 1873.
Picture
   I only learned of A. R. Downer as a result of articles about the current Olympics, particularly two by Arnold Bertram in the Gleaner, in which he gives an account of Downer's achievements as a runner in the 1890s. In an article in 2010 he wrote - 'Downer was born in Jamaica in 1873 to Scottish parents' and in 2012 he wrote - 'Among the athletes preparing for the first Olympic Games was a Jamaican, Alfred Downer, born of Scottish parents in the hills of St Andrew in 1873.' This was very intriguing, and I set out to try and find out how Jamaican, or Scottish, A. R. Downer actually was.

   From the records I have found (all online) it seems fairly clear that the Downers of the late 19th century must be considered 'Jamaicans' having been in the island for at least three generations, from c.1760. The Revd. George William Downer, who was Rector of the Kingston Parish Church from 1873 to 1908, provided a (probably accurate!) record of the family's history.
Picture
Picture
from The Downers of America, David Robinson Downer, 1900
top
   FamilySearch.org, the invaluable service provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints., provides information on the births of A. R. Downer's parents -
Walter Daly Downer
birth: 20 Sep 1828, St. Andrew,​ Surrey,​ Jamaica
parents: George Pierpoint Maxwell Downer,​ Isabella Ann Downer

Mary Reynolds King
christening: 08 Jun 1841, St. Andrew,​ Surrey,​ Jamaica
parents: John King,​ Catherine 

   The Jamaica Almanacs confirm that Walter D Downer was an Inspector of Police, and that the other surviving brother, Richard John, was an attorney-at-law; this supports Arnold Bertram's statement -
'He [A. R. Downer] took pride in the land of his birth, for his autobiography, Running Recollections , published in 1908, begins with his claim to citizenship and the place occupied by his family in the administration of the island.'
[I wait with interest the arrival of a copy - fairly battered but relatively
cheap - of A. R. Downer's book, from a UK bookshop. The copy has arrived - in fine condition - and is a fascinating document. JL.]
On November 1, 1883, the Gleaner carried the report -
Died
At Colon, on the 24th Oct., Walter Daly Downer, brother of the Rector of Kingston, in the 55th year of his age.
   So far, I have found nothing further about the family of Mary Reynolds King, but it seems likely that the Kings provide the link to Scotland which let her choose to take her two children to Edinburgh, when, as it seems likely, she and her husband split up in the mid-1870s.
[It is recorded that a John King from Scotland was a merchant in Kingston around 1760 - Mary R King's great-grandfather perhaps?]
   An item in the Gleaner in 1869 may explain why Mary King and her children finally settled in Edinburgh:
'August 11, 1869
Married
On the 15th ult., at Christ Church, Hampstead, by the Rev. J. H. Bukersteth [Bickersteth?], M. A., assisted by the Rev. Charles Dallas, John Ballantyne, Esq., of Edinburgh, to Alice, youngest daughter of the late John King, Esq., of Stony Hill.'
   So, Mary's younger sister Alice married John Ballantyne of Edinburgh, in the same year that Mary married W. D. Downer. When things went wrong, apparently, with Mary's marriage in the mid-1870s, the sisters may well have seen Mary's best course as also going to the U.K.
   Later, John King Ballantyne, the son of John and Alice, and therefore the cousin of Alfred Downer, featured as a runner in races at meets where Alfred was a star performer.

   So, as Alfred Downer wrote in his biography
'In the November of 1875, I being then exactly one year [two years?] and ten months old, my mother was compelled to take up her residence in this country [U.K.]. In 1880 she finally went to Edinburgh, where, with the exception of a year or so, she has resided ever since.' Running Recollections
back to top
education  >

   I am indebted to Arnold Bertram, Gary Ralston, the Scotsman, Harry Pearson, FamilySearch and other online resources, especially newspaper archives, for the information on these pages, which I hope may make Alfred Downer and his remarkable life accessible to a wider audience.

   I am particularly grateful for the generous free access to newspaper archives in Australia and New Zealand; in the absence of similar easy access to news-paper archives in the U.K. I have been able to track Alfred Downer's career from Down Under.   Joy Lumsden

   PS: I have now got access to many UK newspaper archives, so should be able to find much more about Downer's reputation there. It is gratifying that the British Library's newspaper collection is now being digitised. I spent many productive days doing research at the Newspaper Library at Colindale, which had been inaugurated in the early 20th century during the administration of Edward Maunde Thompson, the great Jamaican Principal Librarian and Director of the Museum, who is credited with guiding the British Museum into the new century.


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.