From the Norman/Clifford Family Album
I’ve had to do a lot more research on the Clifford family to make sure I had the right two women in this photo, I’m still not 100% sure but I think I’ve found most of the Cliffords in the branches who are connected to the husband of the owner of this album Lucy Jessie Norman.
Lucy’s husband, William Wigram Clifford, had two sisters named Ellen Thomas and Emilia Templeton, both with the intials T C but none with the initials of E T C and there is no female in the family with the initials of E T C (in the right time frame) so I’m presuming that here we have Ellen and Emilia, as to who is who don’t ask me!
Apart from finding an Ellen T Clifford aged 42 in the 1881 census, single and living with/visiting her mother’s brother in Wales, I can find absolutely no other source for her at all except for this photo. In other trees on ancestry they give a birthdate of 1837 and a death date of 1916 but with no proven sources.
Her elder sister was Emilia Templeton Clifford, born 31 Jan 1833, date found in another tree with no proven source, however, her death was registered in the 1qtr of 1898 aged 65 in the RD of Bawnboy in Co Cavan, Ireland. The woman standing in the photo looks to be older than the other one so I’m presuming she is Emilia. Emilia married the Venerable Reverend William Creek on 22 Sep 1863 in the Kildallon Church, Co Cavan (see previous article on their daughter Isabella Ogle Creek).
I found the following information on The Irish Bomfords website here:-
In addition to the Cliffords at Greenville, mention should be made of their cousins of Carn Cottage at the other end of the Parish of Kildallan. Both branches of the Clifford family worshipped at Kildallan Church in which there are a number of Clifford wall memorials and many were buried in the churchyard. Robert Clifford, 1792 - 1855, a Captain of the East India Marine (HEICS), bought Carn Cottage around 1833 and brought up his eight children there, but on his death his wife Mary Jane let the place in 1858. Incidentally the marriage of Captain Robert and Mary Jane in 1825 was an unusual double wedding of two brothers, Robert and Richard Clifford, and two sisters, Mary Jane and Catherine Morgan-Williams. General Robert Clifford, 1839 - 1930, Captain Robert’s second son known as ‘Bob’, of the 22nd Sam Browne Cavalry and the 2nd Punjab Cavalry who served during the Indian Mutiny, settled his family of six children at Carn Cottage in 1881, and lived there himself after his retirement in 1894 until he died in 1930. Carn Cottage was sold in 1933 for £l,900 by the General’s son Jack, 1877 - 1970, and is now derelict. And so two generations of Cliffords, the children of Captain Robert and those of General Robert, were brought up at Carn Cottage and a number died there and were buried at Kildallan Church where General Robert’s brother-in-law, Archdeacon William Creek, was Rector until he died in 1899. Thus in 1882, when Frederick Bamford arrived at Killashandra, there were five unmarried daughters at Greenville and four at Carn Cottage.
Like the Martins, these Cliffords were either living in Co Cavan or working in India. Even the sad death of two Cliffords in the Indian Mutiny of 1857 did not deter them from going out to India. The story of these two from the Carn Cottage branch is worth recording. General Bob’s sister, Mary Jane, had gone out to India to keep house for her brother, Wigram Clifford of the Bengal Civil Service, and also, no doubt, to find a husband. When the Mutiny broke out Mary Jane was in Delhi acting as a bridesmaid for the daughter of the Delhi Chaplain. When the mutineers arrived the girls tried to hide under a sofa but were dragged out and murdered. Meanwhile Wigram heard that the mutiny had erupted locally and immediately set out on horseback on the long ride to Gurgaon south of Delhi to warn the garrison there, only to discover that they had got the news on the previous day. He was soon after murdered at Gurgaon together with many loyal soldiers and civilians. Agatha’s father, Richard Henry Clifford, survived the mutiny but only after many escapes; he finally dressed as an Indian and took refuge with the family of one of his loyal servants. General Bob Clifford just missed the Mutiny because the ship taking him to India as a cadet broke down in the Atlantic and was six months under repair on the east coast of South America. When he arrived in Calcutta the Mutiny was over and he learnt of the deaths of Wigram and Mary Jane. An American missionary told him that his sister was known as “the beautiful Miss Clifford” and that Wigram, being in the ICS, had no business to leave his post and join the troops.
Carn Cottage, Belturbet, Co Cavan, Ireland
The General Robert Clifford mentioned above as ‘Bob’ was the younger brother of Ellen & Emilia and the older brother of William Wigram, his daughter Helen is the subject of this photo which luckily included her address and date the photo was taken on the back. When I found the above article it all fell into place, well most of it! Helen was born in India on 22 Jan 1876 which puts her age at 13, looks about right. On the 5 Mar 1897 she married Robert Montrésor Lowis in India.
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The information on this photo was written in black ink on a dark brown background on the back of the photo so it was barely readable and unsuitable to scan!
So far the only Catherine in the right time frame for this photo is Catherine Mary Clifford, first cousin once removed, of William Wigram Clifford. She was born on 20 Apr 1868 in India, daughter of Richard Henry Clifford.
However, according to the same article on the above website Catherine’s nickname was Kitty not Katie so she may be another Catherine that I haven’t found yet.
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I’ve only just noticed my typo, it should say Francis not Frances of course! Strangely I had to go back three generations to find the link between Frank’s family and William Wigram’s, they are third cousins once removed.
Francis Awdry Clifford was born 14 Oct 1884 in India, the son of Miller Hancorne Clifford and Louisa Mann neé Peterson. Miller Hancorne & William Wigram shared 2xgreat-grandparents - Robert Clifford 1690-1761 & his wife Mary neé Boyd.
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These are the last photographs that I’ve been able to identify from the Clifford/Norman Album, please do contact me if you are interested in anyone from these families. Sadly I haven’t been able to identify anyone in the two large photographs in the front of the album that were probably taken in India.
Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz
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