Margaret Clive, Baroness Clive (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Maskelyne; 26 October 1735 – 28 December 1817) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

society figure. She went out to India to meet an admirer and married a military hero. She was in Bengal as their family became incredibly wealthy. When they returned to England the aristocracy did not welcome "new money".

Life

Clive was born in

Kensington Gore Kensington Gore is the name of a U-shaped thoroughfare on the south side of Hyde Park in central London, England. The streets connect the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal College of Art, the Royal Geographical Society, and in Kensington Garde ...

in London in 1735, her elder brother was the

Astronomer Royal Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834. The post ...

Nevil Maskelyne Nevil Maskelyne (; 6 October 1732 – 9 February 1811) was the fifth British Astronomer Royal. He held the office from 1765 to 1811. He was the first person to scientifically measure the mass of the planet Earth. He created the ''British Nau ...

and she was the last of four children born to Elizabeth (born Booth) and Edmund Maskelyne. She lived at home until she was about thirteen when her mother died and she was sent to stay with relatives in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

where she started school when she was about fourteen. Mrs Saintsbury of

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

taught her and she was gifted at French. She went out to India at the suggestion of her brother Edmund with the intention of chasing Robert Clive, who was a colleague. When she set out he was a man who reportedly had fallen in love with her portrait; when she arrived Robert Clive was a hero. Her voyage was not in vain as she married him at St. Mary's Church in (then)

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

on 18 February 1753. They returned to England, but they returned in 1755 for five years as the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

consolidated its position in Bengal. Smart - Margaret Maskelyne, Lady Clive

Her husband died in 1774. She had to find a home. In 1781 the owner of

Englefield House Englefield House is an Elizabethan country house with surrounding estate at Englefield in the English county of Berkshire. The gardens are open to the public all year round on particular weekdays and the house by appointment only for large gr ...

and estate in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

was short of money and decided to rent the house. The rent was set for 400 guineas p.a. but it was let to her for 300 as the owner was keen to find the right tenant who would not interfere with the house's character too much. The house was rented complete with a deer park, three manors and with a library of thousands of pounds' worth of books. Clive died in

Oakly Park Oakly Park, Bromfield, Shropshire, England is a country house dating from the 18th century. In the early 19th century, the house was restored and extended by Charles Robert Cockerell, Surveyor to the Bank of England for his friend Robert Henry ...

Bromfield, Shropshire Bromfield is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 306, which had fallen to 277 at the 2011 census. Location Bromfield is located near the market town of Ludlow, two miles (3 ...

, in 1817.

Family

She and Robert Clive had nine children: *

Edward Clive, 1st Earl of Powis Edward Clive, 1st Earl of Powis, (7 March 1754 – 16 May 1839), known as the Lord Clive between 1774 and 1804, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1774 to 1794 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Clive. Earl ...

(b. 7 March 1754, d. 16 May 1839) * Rebecca Clive (b. 15 September 1760, bapt 10 October 1760 Moreton Say, d. December 1795, married in 1780 to Lt-Gen John Robinson of Denston Hall Suffolk, MP (d. 1798.) * Charlotte Clive (b. 19 January 1762, d. unm 20 October 1795) * Margaret Clive (bapt 18 September 1763

Condover Condover is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is about south of the county town of Shrewsbury, and just east of the A49. The Cound Brook flows through the village on its way from the Stretton Hills to a confluence with the R ...

, Shropshire, d. June 1814, married 11 April 1780 Lt-Col Lambert Theodore Walpole (d. in

Wexford Rebellion The Wexford Rebellion refers to the outbreak in County Wexford, Ireland in May 1798 of the Society of United Irishmen's rebellion against the British rule. It was the most successful and most destructive of all the uprisings that occurred throu ...

1798) * Elizabeth Clive (bapt 18 November 1764 Condover, d. young) * Richard Clive (d. young) * Robert Clive (d. young) * Robert Clive Jnr (b. 14 August 1769, d. unm 28 July 1833), Lt-Col. * Jane Clive (d. young)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clive, Margaret 1735 births 1817 deaths People from Kensington British socialites British baronesses Wives of knights