Mrs John Clowes
(1825-1907)
29 October 1862

Volume 9, page 289, sitting number 12,151.

Born on 7 May 1825 at Cromford in Derbyshire, Caroline Elizabeth Arkwright was the youngest daughter of banker Peter Arkwright of Willersley Castle, a grandson of the industrialist Sir Richard Arkwright.

On 22 January 1852 at Matlock she married John Clowes, second son of Colonel William Legh Clowes of Broughton Old Hall, near Manchester.

When the census was taken in 1861 the couple were at the episcopal palace at Danbury in Essex, visiting Caroline’s brother-in-law, Joseph Cotton Wigram, the Bishop of Rochester, who had married her sister Susan Maria Arkwright in 1837.

Caroline’s father Peter Arkwright died on 19 September 1866 leaving an estate valued at a phenomenal £800,000.

At the time of the 1871 census, Caroline was at Willersley Castle with her eight-year-old daughter Mary. John Clowes was at the family home in Eardisland, Hertfordshire, with son Peter Legh Clowes (17) and daughter Caroline (16). John gave ‘Landowner and Magistrate’ as his profession. The household included a governess and ten servants.

Caroline Elizabeth Clowes died on 20 October 1907 at Wardour Lodge, Sunningdale, Berkshire. She was 82 years old.

John Clothes died, also at Wardour Lodge, on 7 March 1909. He left an estate valued at a surprisingly modest £1308.