The Death of Lady Anne Clifford - 22 March 1676
- thedudleywomen
- 2 days ago
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Updated: 12 hours ago
At the beginning of 1676, Lady Anne Clifford, Dowager Countess of Dorset, Pembroke and Cumberland was just about to turn 86 years old. She had been born on 30 January 1590, during the reign of Elizabeth I, and during her life had seen the reigns of three further monarchs, including the absolution and restoration of the monarch, following the English Civil War. Twice-widowed, she had been a patron of the arts, literature and architecture throughout her life. However, now she was about to enter her final months, and as she had for most of her life, she continued to ensure that her day-to-day activities would be documented. Anne had been a prolific diarist throughout her life, and she ensured this continued, although her final entries were dictated and transcribed by others, including her personal secretary Edward Hasall (Holmes, 1975; Clifford, 2003).
After the death of her second husband, Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and 1st Earl of Montgomery in 1650, Anne spent the remainder of her life at her newly-inherited northern estates; having found herself disinherited following the death of her father in 1605, Anne had spent almost four decades pursing her claim, only coming into her rightful inheritance in 1643, following the deaths of her uncle and cousin. Between 1642 and 1651, The English Civil War caused significant devastation and destruction to these newly-acquired properties, including the slighting of castles, and so Anne set about on ambitious restoration projects for her castles, churches, bridges and surrounding properties on her estates "of public interest". She regularly travelled between her five castles - Skipton, Appleby, Pendragon, Brough and Brougham - with various family members travelling and visiting her at each of these over the years (English Heritage, 2026). However, as her age progressed, and her ability to travel easily between her properties reduced, Anne found herself having to spend extended periods of time at her various estates, being required to "settle...into a way of a life that was physically less energetic but mentally no less active than of old" (Holmes, 1975, p.169). In her will, dated 01 May 1674, Anne acknowledged her physical decline, describing herself as being in "indifferent health of Bodie", although remaining of "very good memory" (Malay, 2018; The National Archives, 2026).
On 05 October 1675, Anne wrote how she left Appleby Castle, having been residing there since 11 May 1675, and "with my family", made the twelve miles north-west journey to Brougham Castle "where I had not bin since" 30 July 1573. Once at Brougham, Anne confirmed that she "continued to lye as usuall in the chamber wherein my Noble father was borne and my Blessed Mother dyed" (Clifford, 2003, p.235). Anne would continue to sleep, rest and eat in her apartment during this final visit, where family and favoured guests were sometimes invited to join her; however, many who were invited to Brougham often dined in a neighbouring room, 'The Painted Chamber' (Holmes, 1975).
From the 04 January 1676 entry, Anne repeatedly writes that she "went not out of the house nor out of my Chamber all this day", her health clearly beginning to deteriorate. On 06 January, she reports having "great loose stools, which I though did me much good, but...weakened my Body so much that it cast me into a Swoning fit" (Clifford, 2003, p.241). Whilst Anne continues to receive regular visitors, including for dinner, she does complain of another bout of diarrhoea a few days later. Her health appears to settle for a few weeks, although she continues to keep to her 'chamber'. However, by the end of January 1676, Anne's health deteriorated further; from 26 January, she starts to write of repeated experiences of an 'ill fitt of the wind'. These 'fitts' become more regular into February and March; on 12 March, she wrote that "this day I had an Extream ill fit of the wind in the afternoon, so that I was in great danger (and yet in no danger) of Death" (Clifford, 2003, p. 277).
Whilst her ill health confined her to her room, Anne was still able to vividly recall events and anniversaries, experiences that she lived through and information she would have obtained first hand or from her due-diligence in studying and compiling her family history, her ancestry and heritage always being important to her. These reflections included the circumstances of her birth, events in her childhood and throughout her adult life, including the deaths of family members; in her final weeks, Anne reflected on the death of her maternal aunt and godmother, Anne Russell, Countess of Warwick, on 09 February 1604, at which multiple family members, including Anne and her mother Margaret Russell, Countess of Cumberland, were present. The detail with which she is able to recall events and dates at this stage of her life suggests not only no evidence of cognitive impairment, but also that Anne likely had access to her old diaries as well as a copy of 'The Great Book of Record': an ambitious project she oversaw, detailing the history of the Clifford family (Holmes, 1975; Clifford, 2003; Targoff 2024).
Anne's health further deteriorated as on Sunday 19 March, it was reported that she was "[visited] with sickness, which wrought so sharply upon her". Her last dictated entry to her Day Books came on 21 March, stating only "The 21st Day. I went not out of the house nor out of my chamber all this day". The lack of detail given in this entry in comparison to her previous ones, even the day before, suggests a further significant decline to her health, with Anne likely knowing that her death was fast approaching. As with many of her entries, Anne quoted a Biblical psalm in this final one; Psalm 121 was chosen for this final entry, a psalm often used as a comfort to those facing death, poignantly containing the lines "I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come?" and "The Lord shall keep you from all evil; it is he who shall keep your soul. The Lord shall keep watch over your going out and your coming in, from this time forth for evermore". Anne had referred to the same psalm on nine days earlier, on 12 March, when she believed that she was at great risk of death (Malay, 2018; Clifford, 2003, p.280).
A final entry was made in Anne's Day Book, likely by her private secretary Edward Hasell, which described her final hours. On Wednesday 22 March 1676, around 6 o'clock in the evening, "after she had endured all her pains...always answering those that asked her how she did with - 'I thank God I am very well' - which were her last words directed to mortals...with much cheerfulness" died. It was confirmed that she had died in her own chamber at Brougham Castle: the same room her father had been born in 1558, and her beloved mother had died in 1616 (Clifford, 2003, p.281).
Anne had laid out her requests for her burial after her death in her will, dated almost two years previously, whilst residing at Pendragon Castle. She requested that her body "may be unopened wrapt only in cere cloth and lead": that she did not wish to be disembowelled, and only to be embalmed with the use of 'cere cloth' (wax-dipped linen cloth) and placed in a lead coffin. She requested that her body then be buried "in the Vault at Appleby Church in Westmorland...in which church my dear and Beloved Mother Margaret Russell, Countess of Cumberland lies also interred", a tomb being erected over her burial place "if it be raised". Anne had personally overseen renovations of St Lawrence's Church, Appleby-in-Westmorland in 1655, including the erection of a tomb monument dedicated to her mother, as well as the construction of another vault in the north-east corner, intending for her own use when her time came. Anne's enduring "love and reverence" for her mother, as close as they were in her lifetime, is clear to see in both her will and Day Book entries, describing her as being "one of the most virtuousse and religiousse ladies that lived in her time" (Clifford, 2003; Targoff, 2024; The National Archives, 2026).
See THE DUDLEY WOMEN post: 'The Death of Margaret Russell, Countess of Cumberland - 24 May 1616'.
On 14 April 1676, "Anne, Lady Clifford, Countess Dowager of Pembroke, Dorset and Montgomery...Lady of the Honor of Skipton-in-Craven, Baroness Clifford, Westmorland and Vessey, and High Sherriff" was taken from Brougham Castle on her final journey. In accordance to her wishes set out in her will, her small leaden coffin, carved with an image of woman sleeping, with an inscribed brass plate attached to identify the occupant, was taken the twelve miles south-east to St Lawrence's Church, Appleby. Anne's favoured grandson, John Tufton, acted as the chief mourner, with a significant amount of local gentry, friends, servants and tenants accompanying Anne's hearse and lining the route from Brougham, their respect given to the elderly woman who had dedicated the last decades of her life to the local area. Her funeral sermon was delivered by Edward Rainbowe, Bishop of Carlisle, a man well known to the deceased woman; he spoke about Anne's life, her accomplishments, her religious beliefs and her charitable actions, delivering a service befitting of her accomplishments and her legacy, following which she was interred in the vault built two decades earlier (Malay, 2018; Clifford, 2003; Targoff, 2024).
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