This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Downing & Walpole Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/AUT.2ACEB/1199.1.1 Message Board Post: Hello Elizabeth, I'm sorry I don't think the story you were told as a child could be possible. My g-g-grandfather was born in 1831. Now of course I don't know when yours was, but nearly a hundred years before 1831 on 23 September 1735, the Right Hon. Sir Robert Walpole moved into the house which is now known as Number 10 Downing Street. the residence of the Prime Minster/First Lord of the Treasury. In Walpole's time the house was No. 5 and not renumbered until 1779. Who was the enemy he sold arms to, and was his name David? I'm sorry I could not have been of any more help. Good luck, Jill.