Henry Clifford, 5th Earl of Cumberland

A painting of Henry Clifford by Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen

Henry Clifford, 5th Earl of Cumberland (28 February 1591 – 11 December 1643) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1614 and 1622. He was created a Baron in 1628 and succeeded to the title Earl of Cumberland in 1641.

Clifford was the son of Francis Clifford, 4th Earl of Cumberland and Grisold Hughes and a member of the Clifford family which held the seat of Skipton from 1310 to 1676.^[1] He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford.^[2] In 1607 he became joint Lord Lieutenant of Cumberland, Northumberland and Westmorland. He was elected Member of Parliament for Westmorland in 1614, and was re-elected in 1621.^[3] In 1621 he became Custos Rotulorum of Westmorland. He was created Baron Clifford in 1628.

Clifford was a supporter of Charles I during the so-called Bishops' Wars in Scotland, and also during the Civil War until his death.^[2] He succeeded to the title of Earl of Cumberland in 1641 and died two years later in 1643 at the age of 52; as he left no sons the earldom became extinct.^[4]

Clifford married Frances Cecil (1593 – 14 February 1644), daughter of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury and Elizabeth Brooke. They had one child: Elizabeth Clifford, 2nd Baroness Clifford who married Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington.^[1]

References

1. Lundy, Darryl. "Henry Clifford, 5th Earl of Cumberland". The Peerage. p. 1634 § 16339. Retrieved September 2013.
2.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cumberland, Dukes and Earls of". Encyclopædia Britannica 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 620.
3. Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 173,183.
4. Chisholm 1911.