Origins of surname
The addition of the suffix -er to down-, meaning a low hill, gives rise to this English surname, derived from the Old English word dun, which is in turn of Celtic origin.
Early records
The name first appeared in Jersey church registers with the marriage of Richard to Sarah Le Riche in Grouville in 1728, followed by the baptisms of their six children, the first three in Grouville and the last three in St Martin, between 1729 and 1735.
Variants
- Downer
- Downe
- Dunman
Family records
Family trees
Church records
- Downer baptisms in Jersey
- Downer marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Downer marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Downer burials in Jersey
Great War service
Notes on our list, abbreviations used etc
- Arthur William Downer (1884- ) (St H) son of Alfred Abram Downer and Mary Cory, Sergeant RASC
- Sydney Downer (1877- ) (St H) son of James and Elizabeth Le Neveu, Mercantile Marine
- William Charles Downer (1860- ) (St Mt) son of William Charles and Honorah, Mercantile Marine
Occupation records
Family wills
These wills created by members of the Downer family are now held by Jersey Archive. By visiting the archive site and using the names, dates and reference numbers shown here, it is possible to view a copy of each will. You will have to subscribe to the Archive's online service to do this. To find out more about this collection, which covers the period from 1663 to 1980, and how to search for your family's wills there, visit our Jersey wills page
- Downer : Alice Jane , of 3, Brockleigh Villas, Gorey Village and formerly of The Rest, Gorey Village, St Martin - 28/Sep/1966 , 24/Jun/1975 , D/Y/B1/224/27
- Downer : Ann , 6 Springfield Crescent, St Helier, widow of Francois Mallet - Unknown date , 12/Sep/1914 , D/Y/A/73/94
- Downer : Ann Jane , Summerfield, La Rocque 6/03/1934 Bequeaths to the Churchwardens of St Martin £25 for the benefit of the poor of the parish - Unknown date , 09/Dec/1938 , D/Y/A/103/92
- Downer : Anne , ... - 17/Jul/1837 , 05/Aug/1837 , D/Y/A/24/30
- Downer : Arthur Alfred Henry , of Charnwood Poplars, Old Beaumont Hill, St Peter and formerly of Gartmoor, Green Road, St Clement - 29/Jun/1960 , 13/Apr/1977 , D/Y/B1/256/48
- Downer : Arthur William , of 24, West Park Avenue, St Helier - 28/Dec/1945 , 16/Jan/1952 , D/Y/B1/12/52
- Downer : Betsey , of Trinity, now of St Helier 06/03/1847 Bequeaths to the poor of Trinity £12 of old French Currency, to the poor of Grouville £12 of old French Currency - Unknown date , 25/Jul/1864 , D/Y/A/32/45
- Downer : Ellen Rose , nee Letto, National Provincial Bank Limited, 11, Royal Square, St Helier - 07/Dec/1954 , 22/Feb/1958 , D/Y/B1/46/52
- Downer : Frederica Annie , Archirondelle, St Martin 11/03/1927 In the event of her sister predeceasing her, bequeaths La Maisonette to the sons and daughter of Charles Pallot - Unknown date , 01/Mar/1937 , D/Y/A/100/55
- Downer : George , 2 Rus in Urbe, Green Street, St Helier - 07/Dec/1945 , 08/Feb/1946 , D/Y/A/115/45
- Downer : Herbert Charles , of 1, Beaufort Square, St Helier - 06/Mar/1957 , 27/Oct/1966 , D/Y/B1/101/43
- Downer : Violet Marjorie , of The Warren, Faldouet, St Martin - 24/Mar/1966 , 27/Mar/1968 , D/Y/B1/118/11
Burial records
Family businesses
A A Downer's auction and estate agency was at 3 Broad Street. This was probably Alfred Abram Downer, son of Charles and Nancy Drelaud - see Descendants of Richard Downer
1920
1905
Family album
Capt Francis Downer (1846- )
A postcard sent to D W Downer in 1943. His Occupation identity card shows him to have been Douglas William Downer, born in 1921
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Family gravestones
Click on any image to see a larger version. See the Jerripedia gravestone image collection page for more information about our gravestone photographs
Almorah cemetery
Almorah cemetery
St Ouen parish cemetery
St Lawrence
Tips
The church record links above will open in a new tab in your browser and generate the most up-to-date list of each set of records from our database. These lists replace earlier Family page baptism lists, which were not regularly updated. They have the added advantage that they produce a chronological listing for the family name in all parishes, so you do not have to search through A-Z indexes, parish by parish.
We have included some important spelling variants on some family pages, but it may be worth searching for records for a different spelling variant. Think of searching for variants with or without a prefix, such as Le or De. To search for further variants, or for any other family name, just click on the appropriate link below for the first letter of the family name, and a new tab will open, giving you the option to choose baptism, marriage or burial records. You will then see a list of available names for that type of record and you can select any name from that list. That will display all records of the chosen type for that family name, and you can narrow the search by adding a given name, selecting a parish or setting start and end dates in the form you will see above. You can also change the family name, or search for a partial name if you are not certain of the spelling
The records are displayed 30 to a page, but by selecting the yellow Wiki Table option at the top left of the page you can open a full, scrollable list. This list will either be displayed in a new tab or a pop-up window. You may have to edit the settings of your browser to allow pop-up windows for www.jerripediabmd.net. For the small number of family names for which a search generates more than 1,500 records you will have to refine your search (perhaps using start or end dates) to reduce the number of records found.
New records
Since August 2020 we have added several thousand new records from the registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These will appear in date order within a general search of the records and are also individually searchable within the database search form
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