Clifford family (bankers)

Not to be confused with the Clifford family of nobles.

Brough Castle from the southeast.

The Clifford family was a family of bankers, merchants and regenten of English descent active in Amsterdam. The family originated in northern England, though their surname originates in the village of Clifford.^[1] Northern England was the home of the noble Clifford family, since Roger Clifford was born in Cumberland and died in Brough Castle in Westmorland. There is no evidence that the Clifford banking family is descended from a nobleman who fought for William I of England.^[2]

History

Richard and Henry Clifford

The church in Landbeach

Born in Aylsham, he studied at Corpus Christi, Cambridge, one of the most important training-institutions for Anglican clergy and in 1569 became rector of Landbeach, a village just north of Cambridge^[3], though he was also canon of Stow. His wife (and Henry's mother) was Alice, though her maiden name is unknown. Henry Clifford (1576-1628) was born in Landbeach. Like his father Richard he studied at Corpus Christi.

George Clifford I

Henry's son, George Clifford, came to Amsterdam between 1634 and 1640. This George or Joris (1623-1680) married Abigail Bower in 1648 and spent the rest of his life on the Zeedijk. From 1654 he had an account with the Amsterdamsche Wisselbank. Six of his children were baptised in Amsterdam's Presbyterian Church, and two in the Oude Kerk. He also seems to have been active in Hull, where his brother-in-law lived, but also had a plantation in Barbados, which he is recorded as owning in 1664.^[4]

George Clifford II

George Clifford II began his career on the Leliegracht. From 1696 to 1700 he was director of the Sociëteit van Suriname. From 1701 George (1657-1727) and Isaäc (1665-1729) ran their father's business under the name 'George en Isaäc Clifford & Co.', though it is not clear which of them was the most involved in the business. In 1709 George bought the estate of Hartekamp in Heemstede, buying it for 22, 000 guilders from Jacob J. Hinlopen, his neighbour on the Herengracht in the Gouden Bocht. The family business entered banking at the start of the 18th century and in 1713 they arranged a loan to Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor and to Augustus III of Poland.

George Clifford III

The Hartekamp in Heemstede.

Main article: George Clifford III

George Clifford II's only son was George Clifford (1685-1760) is best known as patron of the Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus, who he employed as 'hortulanus' and who catalogued the family's unique collection of plants, herbarium and library.^[5] The result was his book Hortus Cliffortianus, whose publication was paid for by George Clifford III. In 1739 George Clifford III made a sworn statement to Nicolaes Geelvinck, secretary of the stadhuis, that he was descended from Henry Clifford from Landbeach.

Later history

In the mid-18th century members of the family began to enter the city-government of Amsterdam. The business regularly lent money to banks in Saint Petersburg and Moscow and the English and Danish governments, and owned plantations in Suriname, but it went bankrupt in 1772, bringing down a number of other bankers and their firms, such as Pels & Zonen and Leendert Pieter de Neufville. In the mid-19th century the Clifford family moved to The Hague, though its family archive was lost in an incendiary raid on Dalfsen during the Second World War.^[6]

Notes

1. ^ Family tree of the Clifford family
2. ^ Bouvy, A & Oetgens van Waveren Pancras Clifford (1991) De Nederlandse Leeuw, p, 81-103.
3. ^ Landbeach: Tithe Barn
4. ^ Stadsarchief 5075, NA 2157, f. 157.
5. ^ Wie was George Clifford?
6. ^ https://stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl/archieven/archiefbank/overzicht/236.nl.html

Bibliography

• (Dutch) L. Albers, A.J. Kramer, J.L.P.M. Krol & I. van Thiel-Stroman. Het landgoed de Hartekamp in Heemstede. Heemstede, VOHB, 1982.
• (Dutch) Johan E. Elias. De vroedschap van Amsterdam 1578-1795. Haarlem, 1905. Twee delen. Herdruk in 1963.