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| Perdita woman: Anne Clifford |
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Biography Lady Anne Clifford was born on 30 January 1590 in Skipton, Yorkshire. She was the daughter of George, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, and Margaret Russell, daughter of Francis, 2nd Earl of Bedford. Two elder brothers died in childhood and she was the only surviving child. Her parents' marriage was never happy, and they formally separated in 1601, although Margaret and Anne continued to live in the Earl's London house in Clerkenwell. As a result of these tensions as a child she was very much under the influence of her mother and her Russell relatives. With her mother and her sisters she experienced life at the court of Queen Elizabeth and, later, King James, attending the funeral of the former and the coronation of the latter. Although an important figure at court, her mother was also revered for her piety and charity, and inculcated these values in her daughter from a young age. Margaret Clifford was also known for her knowledge of medicine and alchemy, and she insured that Anne had a humanist education under Anne Taylor and the poet Samuel Daniel. Under Daniel in particular she read many ancient works and contemporary continental texts in translation, as her father had forbidden her to learn classical languages. The importance of Daniel and Anne Taylor in her early life is attested by portraits of both above a fifteen-year old Anne in the "Great Picture" (the Appleby triptych, now in Appleby Castle, Appleby, Cumbria) that she commissioned more than forty years later. On her father's death in 1605 the main Clifford estates passed to his brother Francis, who claimed the title of 4th Earl of Cumberland. There has been some debate about the motivations of the 3rd Earl in disenfranchising his daughter. Many feminists have pointed out the misogyny of such a move, and suggested that George Clifford did not want his title to descend upon a daughter who had been raised as a Russell, a family that included several powerful women. Clifford's will also passed on to his brother estates which were part of his wife's jointure. On the other hand, Clifford's merchant adventures in search of Queen Elizabeth's favour had so heavily encumbered his estates with debt that their bequest would have been a lifelong burden for Lady Anne, who might have had more difficulty settling the debt than her male relatives (who themselves took over 60 years to finally clear the accounts). Whatever the truth of her husband's motives, Margaret Clifford felt that her daughter had been defrauded and began legal proceedings to reclaim both land and titles, accompanying her daughter on a tour of the Clifford estates in 1617. Although removed from the primary line of inheritance, Anne was provided with a dowry of 15000 pounds and was thus a desirable heiress. Perhaps because of his own experience of arranged marriage, George Clifford had been adamant that his daughter should consent before any match was concluded. On 25 February 1609 she married her childhood friend Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset. The marriage was completed in haste because the groom's father was on his deathbed and only by marrying could Sackville avoid becoming a ward of one of James's courtiers. Sackville repeatedly urged his wife to abandon her suit for her father's lands in order to accept the 15,000 pound settlement, which was denied her as long as she pursued a claim to the Clifford estate. Sackville needed the settlement to maintain his lavish lifestyle: records suggest that he spent approximately 16,000 pounds a year during the last nine years of their marriage. When his wife refused, she records in her diary that he denied her access to her daughter Margaret (born 2 July 1614 ) and refused to sleep with her when she was fertile. She had five children by Sackville; three sons who died in childhood and two daughters, Margaret and Isabella (born 1622) who survived her. Sackville died suddenly in 1624, and in 1630 Clifford married Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and Earl of Montgomery (1584-1650). They were separated four and a half years later, after the birth of two premature sons who did not survive. In 1641 her uncle Francis died, passing on the Clifford estates to his son, who died in 1643 leaving the properties finally to Anne Clifford as the male line was exhausted. At the end of the civil wars in 1649 she travelled north to take possession of her estates, many of which were in a state of disrepair. She was widowed again in 1650, and spent the remainder of her long life as an important northern landowner, policing her tenants, serving as High Sheriffess, and writing and revising her diaries and autobiography. She continued to keep her diary until the day before her death on 22 March 1676 . Biography researched by Erica Longfellow. See also new ODNB entry: 'Clifford, Anne [known as Lady Anne Clifford], countess of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery (1590–1676)'. |
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Cumbria Record Office: WD/Hoth/10 Beinecke
Library: MS b.27 Centre for Kentish
Studies: U269 F 48/1 Centre for Kentish
Studies: U269 F 48/2 Centre for Kentish
Studies: U269 F 48/3 |