Edward Downes after his health declined following a hip replacement. Lady Downes was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer that metastasised to her liver, and given only weeks to live. Lady Downes wrote a letter to family explaining that she had decided against treatment and that: Sir Edward, aged 85, and Lady Downes, aged 74, ended their lives by assisted suicide at the Dignitas clinic in Zürich, Switzerland, on 10 July 2009. Although Joan did not want the children present, Dignitas encouraged it and "Ted and Joanie" were reported to be pleased when the time came. Their children issued a statement speaking of
Sir Edward Gooch, 6th Baronet Sir Edward Gooch, 6th Baronet Sir Edward Sherlock Gooch, 6th Baronet of Benacre Hall (6 June 1802 – 9 November 1856) was a British Conservative politician. Born in 1802, Gooch was the son of Sir Thomas Gooch, 5th Baronet and Marianne née Whittaker. He first married Louisa Anna Maria Prescott, daughter of Sir George Beeston Prescott, 2nd Baronet, in 1828, and they had at least two children: Florence Jane Charlotte Giva Gooch (died 1918) and a second, unknown daughter. After Louisa's death in 1837, he remarried to Harriet Hope-Vere, daughter of James Joseph Hope-Vere and Lady Elizabeth Hay in 1839.