Lady Anne Clifford (1590–1676) was the only surviving child of Baron George Clifford and Lady Margaret Russell. At age 15, she was the heir to an extensive barony in the north-west of England when her father died. Her unusual inheritance occurred because the original documents, issued during the reign of Edward II, stated that the oldest child would inherit, no matter the gender. Clifford’s father, however, willed his estate to his brother and his male line, with the condition that it would revert to his daughter only if there were no male heirs. His will left his daughter £15,000—a huge fortune at the time, but not the title as long as her male cousins survived. This led to many years of lawsuits because of legal skepticism about a female heir to a title. Her mother, the noted intellectual Lady Margaret Russell, was the only one to support her daughter’s cause. Clifford’s mother even went so far as to publicly contest her husband’s will. Anne Clifford’s male cousin in line for the title died in 1643. After the English Civil Wars concluded, Anne Clifford took possession of her properties and the title in 1649. She went on to lead the barony for 27 years. She acted much like a lord by rebuilding churches, convening courts, and establishing an almshouse for the local poor. She wrote several versions of her personal and family history, including
Anne Clifford was twice married, first in 1609 to Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset. They were not well-matched, as he was notorious in his extravagance and infidelities. Her first husband pushed Clifford to give up the fight for her inheritance and accept a cash payment, but she refused. Clifford was told by Dorset and all her male relatives, as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury, that she was foolish to keep fighting for her inheritance instead of accepting the money. Her husband needed the money and threated to separate from her and go off to the court of James I to indulge himself. He also threatened to leave her alone in one of their houses and take their child with him.
Dorset died in 1624, and Clifford wed her second husband, Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery in 1630. He took her side and helped her to pursue her rightful inheritance. Yet they, too, did not get along well, and she eventually lived separately from him, in part due to their political and religious differences. As England moved towards Civil War, she sided with Charles I and he sided with the Parliamentarians who later executed Charles in 1649. Pembroke died in 1650.
Anne Clifford wrote at least four autobiographies at different stages of her life, all of which were intended, at least in part, to justify her legal and moral claim on her inheritance. Her diary contains significant detail about everyday life that is missing from many other women’s diaries of the time. The diary opens with the 13-year-old Clifford remembering the funeral of Queen Elizabeth and the surrounding events in 1603, situating Clifford at an important historical moment.
Because of the disapproval that Clifford faced from almost everyone, including her first husband, the king, and the court, she used the Bible to justify her rebellious actions. She was a moderate Calvinist but friends with both Catholics and Puritans during a religiously divided era.
Clifford’s household growing up was mostly women, because her father was often away at sea or court. This woman-centered household, Queen Elizabeth’s influence, and the fact that Clifford was well-educated by a personal tutor, may have been the reason she was able to rebel consistently and push against both law and custom. She is reported to have smoked a pipe, worn short hair, and established a specific retirement home for her female servants. Anne Clifford lived to be 86, although her diary was not published until 1923 and not edited fully until 1990.