George Clifford KG (1558 - 1605)

Born 8 Aug 1558 in Brougham Castle, Westmorland, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 30 Oct 1605 at age 47 in Duchy House in the Savoy, London, Middlesex, England

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Biography

George Clifford was a member of the aristocracy in British Isles.

George Clifford had black hair, a dimple in his chin, and an exquisite shape of body according to his diarist daughter, Lady Anne Clifford.^[1]

He was born on 8 August^[2] in 1558 at Brougham,^[3] Westmorland, England. George's parents were Henry Clifford, second Earl of Cumberland, and his second wife, Anne, the daughter of Lord Dacre of Greystock, Gilsland and Kirkoswald.^[3]

George had siblings:

1. Francis;^[3]

George Clifford graduated at Cambridge University then gained a Master's degree in mathematics at University of Oxford. ^{[4] [3]}

Henry, his father, died at Brougham in 1570.^[3]

George married Lady Margaret Russell.^[3]

George and Margaret had children:

1. a son who died;
2. a son who died; and
3. Anne, born 30 January 1590;^[1]

George financed eleven expeditions to places such as Madagascar and the Caribbean. He commanded the Elizabeth Bonaventure in the naval battle against the Spanish Armada in 1588.^[1] George was made Queen's Champion in 1590 and admitted to the Most Noble Order of the Garter in 1592.^[1] He was a witness at the execution of Mary Queen of Scots.^[3] A favourite of his Queen, Elizabeth I of England, he wore her glove in his hat (as can be seen in his portrait).

His wife, "the beautiful and talented" Margaret, Countess of Cumberland, and her sister, Anne Dudley nee Russell Countess of Warwick, were pallbearers at the funeral of Elizabeth I, Queen of England.^[1]

George and Margaret were living apart, because of "some unhappie unkindness towards" his wife, when he died three months past 47 in 1605, in the Duchy house by the Savoy in London.^{[1] [5]} Despite the original entail of his family's property, made by Edward II, specifying the Viteripont estates should descend to the direct heir,^[5] George made his will in 1603 leaving his sole legal heir, Anne, £15,000, and the rest to his brother, Francis, who became the fourth earl of Cumberland when Anne was 15. Her mother, Margaret started what was to be a forty year battle for Anne to regain her inheritance, which she did in 1643.^[3] Anne his daughter and his wife Margaret were present at his death, and Anne wrote in her diary that he said he had a great belief that his brother's son would die without sons and all his Landes would become hers.^[5]

George Clifford third Earl of Cumberland was buried at Skipton, next to his father and grandfather, and his daughter Anne built him "the grandest monument ever built for someone not of royal blood".^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Cliffard, 1994, pp. 1-3.
2. ↑ Buck Howe, Ancestors of PBHowe.ged, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/15949597/person/343250089/facts, June 6, 2011
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7} Cliffard, 1994, pp. 10-1
4. ↑ Foster, J. (1891). Alumni Oxoniensis: the members of the University of Oxford, 1500-1714, (Vol. 1: A - D). Oxford: James Parker & Co. : "Clifford, George, 3rd Earl of Cumberland ; of Trinity Coll., Cambridge, 1 571-4, M.A. 1576, created M.A. (Oxon) 27 Sept., 1592, an excellent mathematician, a great navigator, K.G. 1592, P.C. 1603, died 30 Oct., 1605, buried at Skipton in Craven. See Fasti, i. 260 ; & D.N.B."
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3} Cliffard, 1994, pp. 14-5.

• Royal Ancestry D. Richardson 2013 Vol. I p. 511
• Clifford pedigree: Table Showing the Descent of the Barony of Clifford

See also:

• Space:The_Diaries_of_Lady_Anne_Clifford
• Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (D. Dunglinson, Gateshead, England, 1858) Vol. 1, Page 29-30