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Table of Contents
Number 10 Downing Street is the official residence and executive office of the First Lord of the Treasury, Britain’s Prime Minister. It is located in London’s Mayfair neighborhood.
See the fact file below for more information on 10 Downing Street or alternatively, you can download our 30-page 10 Downing Street worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information
THE BUILDING
- British Prime Ministers have lived at 10 Downing Street for over 200 years.
- They take important decisions that affect Britain there.
- Besides the bedrooms and offices, there are other rooms in the building.
- There is one room for hosting guests and another for cabinet member meetings.
- The building has a brick facade, and the front door is black.
FUNCTIONS OF 10 DOWNING STREET
- Number 10 is the home of the Prime Minister of Britain.
- It is also the Prime Minister’s office.
- Here the Prime Minister entertains guests for Her Majesty.
- The Prime Minister hosts events for many people from all over the world. One of his favorite events is a reception for charities.
ORIGINS OF NUMBER 10
- Downing Street was important 1,000 years ago.
- When the Romans first came to Britain, they settled in the area called Thorney Island.
- Later Anglo-Saxon and Norman tribes settle there.
- Some years later, King Cnut built a palace in the area, followed by Edward the Confessor and William the Conqueror.
- The area of Thorney Island became known as Westminster and the seat of the government because Edward built an abbey nearby for people to worship God.
- The first building on the site of Downing Street was a brewery, but it fell into disuse.
- Henry VIII built a palace at Westminster. Today, Downing Street is next to the palace site. The huge residence made all the other homes near it more valuable.
DOWNING STREET 10 AS A PLACE OF POWER
- During the Restoration, George Downing gave his name to the street. George was not usually a reputable man, but he was good at being a diplomat.
- George Downing was a former diplomat for the Commonwealth. He secured the lease to the property and employed Sir Christopher Wren to design houses on it.
- The numbers on the houses were different from those of today. They were also in a different order, and people would call them by the name of the person who lived there.
- King George II gave a house on Downing Street to Sir Robert Walpole, who became the first British Prime Minister.
- Walpole refused the property as a personal gift. Instead, he asked the king to make it available for him and other First Lords of the Treasury. This started a tradition that continues today.
- The Walpoles had important guests at their house. Number 10 became – as it continues to be today – a place for politics and official entertainment.
- In 1800s, Downing Street was not in good shape. Number 10 continued to be used as a Prime Minister’s office, but it wasn’t home. It was usually better for the Prime Minister to live in their own house.
- In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, 10 Downing Street was transformed from a simple home into a grand residence with electrical lighting.
- Over the years, more improvements were made to the house. Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald started the Prime Minister’s Library.
HISTORIC EVENTS AT 10 DOWNING STREET
- The Cabinet Room at Number 10 was the center of Britain’s war effort during World War I.
- Number 10 was the site of a meeting between members of the British Cabinet about an important military operation: the Battle of the Somme.
- After the armistice was finally declared, people came to Downing Street. PM Lloyd George came to one of the windows on the first floor and acknowledged them.
- On 12 September 1938, people came to Downing Street and listened to a speech by Hitler. He said that Britain was close to war with Germany.
- As the situation in Europe got worse, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain tried to make it better. All of this attention made Number 10 important.
- Chamberlain told the country that the British were fighting Germany. He broadcast this in the Cabinet Room.
- When Winston Churchill became Prime Minister, he moved to Downing Street. He often did some of his work lying in bed.
- The bombs did not hit Number 10. Churchill could still work and eat there until the end of the war.
- After the war ended, Churchill made a broadcast in the Cabinet Room where he talked about V-Day.
- Years later, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher stayed up all night in Number 10 for the whole time of the Falklands War.
- In 1991, an IRA mortar bomb was fired from a white van. It exploded in the garden of Number 10, where Prime Minister John Major was talking about the Gulf War.
- No one was killed, but the explosion left a big hole in the gardens of Number 10.
- The windows of other houses were also blown in.
- Today tourists can’t go inside 10 Downing Street. The public can’t walk up to the residence, or down Downing Street. If you want to see the prime minister enter or leave his house, check to see if the gates are open.
10 Downing Street Worksheets
This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about 10 Downing Street across 30 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about 10 Downing Street which is the official residence and executive office of the First Lord of the Treasury, Britain’s Prime Minister
Complete List Of Included Worksheets
- 10 Downing Street Facts
- British Politics
- Spot the Differences: 10 Adam Street
- Touring 10 Downing Street
- 20th and 21st-Century Prime Ministers
- 10 Downing Street vs The White House
- Directions for 10 Downing Street
- The Downing Street Mortar Attack
- Figures of Speech and a Ghost
- Suffragettes at Number 10
- A Famous Letter
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Link will appear as 10 Downing Street Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, January 27, 2022
Use With Any Curriculum
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