Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. H.H. Clifford, V.C.
(1826-1883)
22 May 1861

Volume 3, page 287, sitting number 3830.

Born on 12 September 1826, the Honourable Henry Hugh Clifford was the fourth son of Henry Charles Clifford, who became 7th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh in 1831. His mother was Mary Lucy née Weld. The Clifford family were prominent English Roman Catholics. His maternal grandfather was Cardinal Thomas Weld, who had, on the death of his wife, entered the priesthood and enjoyed a meteoric career in the Church.

Henry obtained a commission in the Rifle Brigade, which he joined as a Second Lieutenant on 7 August 1846. He had already completed several tours of duty in South Africa when war broke out in the Crimea in 1854. Appointed ADC to Sir George Brown, commander of the Light Division, he saw action at Alma and at Inkerman and was present at the Siege of Sebastopol. For his actions during the Battle of Inkerman he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the country’s highest award for valour in the face of the enemy. He was appointed deputy assistant quartermaster-general in May 1855, remaining in the Crimea until the end of the war, when he was promoted to the rank of brevet major.

On 21 March 1857 in Dublin he married Josephine Elizabeth Anstice, daughter of classical scholar Joseph Anstice. Their marriage produced nine children.

Henry subsequently served in China during the Second Opium War. On his return to England, he commenced a long term of service on the staff; he was assistant quartermaster-general at Aldershot 1860–4, held a similar appointment at headquarters 1865–1868, was ADC to the commander-in-chief 1870–3, and assistant adjutant-general at headquarters 1873–5.  In 1879 he was selected to take charge of the communications of Lord Chelmsford during the Anglo-Zulu War.

He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 2 June 1869, and a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George on 19 December 1879.

Major-General the Honourable Sir Henry Hugh Clifford died, aged 57, on 12 April 1883 at Ugbrooke Park in Devon.

[From an album compiled by Isabel Westmacott, daughter of Horatio Westmacott, Rector of Chastleton in Oxfordshire, and granddaughter of the sculptor Sir Richard Westmacott.]