The Clifford family was a family of bankers, merchants and regenten

Regenten

In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the regenten were the rulers of the Dutch Republic, the leaders of the Dutch cities or the heads of organisations . Though not formally a hereditary "class", they were de facto "patricians", comparable to that ancient Roman class...

 of Englis

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

h descent active in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

. The family originated in northern England, though their surname originates in the village of Clifford

Clifford, Herefordshire

Clifford is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, four miles to the north of Hay-on-Wye. It lies on the south bank of the River Wye, which here forms the border between Wales and England....

. Northern England was the home of the noble Clifford family, since Roger Clifford was born in Cumberland

Cumberland

Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....

 and died in Brough Castle

Brough Castle

Brough Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Brough, Cumbria , England. It is currently administered by English Heritage. The Castle consists of a large mound, on which there is an extensive range of buildings, with a circular corner tower, and the remnants of an older four storey...

 in Westmorland

Westmorland

Westmorland is an area of North West England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974, after which the entirety of the county was absorbed into the new county of Cumbria.-Early history:...

. There is no evidence that the Clifford banking family is descended from a nobleman who fought for William I of England

William I of England

William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...

.

Richard and Henry Clifford

Born in Aylsham

Aylsham

Aylsham is a historic market town and civil parish on the River Bure in north Norfolk, England, about north of Norwich. The river rises near Melton Constable, upstream from Aylsham and continues to Great Yarmouth and the North Sea, although it was only made navigable after 1779, allowing grain,...

, he studied at Corpus Christi, Cambridge, one of the most important training-institutions for Anglican clergy and in 1569 became rector of Landbeach

Landbeach

Landbeach is a small fen-edge English village about five miles north of Cambridge. The parish covers an area of .-History:The fen edge north of Cambridge was well populated in Roman times, and the village's situation on a Roman road will have helped its growth...

, a village just north of Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, though he was also canon of Stow

Stow, Lincolnshire

Stow is a small village and civil parish within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is eleven miles northwest of the city of Lincoln and six miles southeast of Gainsborough, and has a total resident population of 355.Stow dates back to Roman times and in the...

. His wife (and Henry's mother) was Alice, though her maiden name is unknown. Henry Clifford (1576-1628) was born in Landbeach

Landbeach

Landbeach is a small fen-edge English village about five miles north of Cambridge. The parish covers an area of .-History:The fen edge north of Cambridge was well populated in Roman times, and the village's situation on a Roman road will have helped its growth...

. Like his father Richard he studied at Corpus Christi.

George Clifford I

Henry's son, George Clifford, came to Amsterdam between 1634 and 1640. This George or Joris (1623-1680) married Abigail Bower in 1648 and spent the rest of his life on the Zeedijk. From 1654 he had an account with the Amsterdamsche Wisselbank

Amsterdamsche Wisselbank

The Bank of Amsterdam was an early bank, vouched for by the city of Amsterdam, established in 1609, the precursor to, if not the first true central bank.-Bank money:...

. Six of his children were baptised in Amsterdam's Presbyterian Church, and two in the Oude Kerk

Oude Kerk (Amsterdam)

The Oude Kerk is Amsterdam’s oldest parish church, consecrated in 1306 by the bishop of Utrecht with Saint Nicolas as its patron saint. It stands in De Wallen, now Amsterdam's main red-light district. The square surrounding the church is the Oudekerksplein.The bust of famous organist and composer...

. He also seems to have been active in Hull

Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

, where his brother-in-law lived, but also had a plantation in Barbados

Barbados

Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

, which he is recorded as owning in 1664.

George Clifford II

George Clifford II began his career on the Leliegracht. From 1696 to 1700 he was director of the Sociëteit van Suriname. From 1701 George (1657-1727) and Isaäc (1665-1729) ran their father's business under the name 'George en Isaäc Clifford & Co.', though it is not clear which of them was the most involved in the business. In 1709 George bought the estate of Hartekamp

Hartekamp

Hartekamp, or Hartecamp, is the name of a villa in Heemstede, the Netherlands, on the Bennebroek border. It was once the summer home of George Clifford, who employed Linnaeus in 1737 to write his Hortus Cliffortianus, a detailed description of the gardens of Hartecamp.-History:The house was built...

 in Heemstede

Heemstede

Heemstede is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland.-History :Heemstede formed around the Castle Heemstede that was built on the Spaarne River around 1286. Before 1296, Floris V, Count of Holland, granted Heemstede as a fiefdom to Reinier of Holy...

, buying it for 22, 000 guilders from Jacob J. Hinlopen

Jacob J. Hinlopen

Jacob J. Hinlopen lived in a house with Hinlopen in the gable, now at 155 Nieuwendijk. He traded in cloth and Indian wares. In 1602 he was co-founder of the Dutch East India Company in Enkhuizen, his descendants inherited very old stocks. He also was the first person of Flemish origin, that in...

, his neighbour on the Herengracht in the Gouden Bocht

Gouden Bocht

The Gouden Bocht is the most prestigious part of Herengracht in Amsterdam, between Leidsestraat and Vijzelstraat.Until 1663 Herengracht reached as far as the present Leidsegracht. From that year on, the fortifications around Amsterdam were expanded, within Herengracht, Keizersgracht and...

. The family business entered banking at the start of the 18th century and in 1713 they arranged a loan to Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles VI was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , Hungary and Croatia , Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711...

 and to Augustus III of Poland

Augustus III of Poland

Augustus III, known as the Saxon ; ; also Prince-elector Friedrich August II was the Elector of Saxony in 1733-1763, as Frederick Augustus II , King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1734-1763.-Biography:Augustus was the only legitimate son of Augustus II the Strong, Imperial Prince-Elector...

.

George Clifford III

George Clifford II's only son was George Clifford (1685-1760) is best known as patron of the Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus

Carolus Linnaeus

Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...

, who he employed as 'hortulanus' and who catalogued the family's unique collection of plants, herbarium and library. The result was his book Hortus Cliffortianus

Hortus Cliffortianus

The Hortus Cliffortianus is a work of early botanical literature published in 1738.The work was a collaboration between Carl Linnaeus and Georg Dionysius Ehret, financed by George Clifford in 1735-1736. Clifford, a wealthy Amsterdam banker was a keen botanist with a large herbarium and governor of...

, whose publication was paid for by George Clifford III. In 1739 George Clifford III made a sworn statement to Nicolaes Geelvinck

Nicolaes Geelvinck

Nicolaes Geelvinck was lord of Castricum, Bakkum, Santpoort, Velsen, Stabroek, schepen, and owner of the country estate Akerendam-by-Beverwijk...

, secretary of the stadhuis, that he was descended from Henry Clifford from Landbeach.

Later history

In the mid-18th century members of the family began to enter the city-government of Amsterdam. The business regularly lent money to banks in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

 and Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 and the English and Danish governments, and owned plantations in Suriname

Suriname

Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...

, but it went bankrupt in 1772, bringing down a number of other bankers and their firms, such as Pels & Zonen

Andries Pels (1655 - 1731)

Andries Pels was a rich Dutch banker and insurer from Amsterdam. He was the banker of France in the era of John Law. He was nephew of his namesake, poet Andries Pels, and was uncle to the colonial governor Paulus van der Veen...

 and Leendert Pieter de Neufville

Leendert Pieter de Neufville

Leendert Pieter de Neufville was a Dutch banker in Amsterdam. During the Seven Years' War he implemented a financial innovation the so called "wisselruiterij". After the outbreak of peace in 1763 he could no longer meet his obligations and he went bankrupt. This also brought other banks into...

. In the mid-19th century the Clifford family moved to The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

, though its family archive was lost in an incendiary raid on Dalfsen

Dalfsen

Dalfsen is a municipality and a town in the Salland region of the Dutch province of Overijssel.The present municipality of Dalfsen was created on 1 January 2001 through the merger of the municipalities of Nieuwleusen and Dalfsen....

 during the Second World War.