Marshall Waller Clifton

Marshall Waller Clifton (1 November 1787 – 10 April 1861), commonly referred to as Waller Clifton, was an English civil servant, coloniser and politician in Western Australia.

History

Clifton was born 1 November 1787 at Alverstoke, near Gosport, Hampshire, England, to Rev. Francis Clifton and Rebekah Katherine Clifton (née Bingham).

He joined the Admiralty as an extra clerk on 9 September 1805, and was promoted to junior clerk on 15 March 1811, 2nd class clerk on 5 February 1816, and 1st class clerk on 21 August 1819.

On 2 July 1811, Clifton married Elinor Bell (of Wandle House, Wandsworth, London, a first cousin, close friend and co-religionist of Elizabeth Fry, the famous Quaker prison reformer). Clifton and Elinor had fifteen children, one of whom died as a baby. Eleven of these children later came to Western Australia with their parents in 1841, and one followed later (George, as a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy in 1843, and again 1851–64).

On 22 January 1822, Clifton was appointed secretary to the Victualling Board for the Royal Navy at Somerset House. In 1828 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. After the position of secretary to the Victualling Board was abolished in 1832, he was retired on a pension and moved his family to France for eight years.

In 1840 the Western Australian Land Company was formed in London to promote a large land settlement scheme in the Colony of Western Australia. This was planned by a group of influential men including William Hutt, M.P. (brother of John Hutt, Governor of Western Australia from 1838 to 1846) and Edward Gibbon Wakefield, upon whose principles of colonisation the company was founded. Clifton was appointed Chief Commissioner and his son, Robert Williams Clifton (1817–1897), was appointed his secretary.

The name of the settlement, Australind, a contraction of Australia and India, was chosen as it was hoped to establish trade between the two countries.

Clifton and his family and other first settlers of the Australind region sailed to Australia on the barque ''Parkfield'' in October 1840, arriving at Port Leschenault ( Bunbury) on 18 March 1841. In 1841 Clifton was appointed magistrate and Justice of the Peace. However approval for the settlement was not finalised until 6 April 1842, and which Clifton was allocated a parcel of land at 15 Clifton Road, which he named "Alverstoke" and on which the original house still stands today.

The Western Australian Land Company collapsed in 1843, ceasing all operations in Western Australia within 3 years and the settlers were left to fend for themselves.

Clifton's children became prominent members of society in Bunbury, Australind and Brunswick, several occupying important positions such as Resident Magistrate (Pearce), Inspector of Water Police (George, who later returned to England and became Governor of Dartmoor Prison), member of the Town Trust (Pearce), Collector of Customs at Fremantle (Worsley).
At one time, the Under Secretary for Lands, the Under Treasurer and the Surveyor General were all grandsons of Clifton. In 1897 about twenty of his grandchildren held senior offices in the Western Australian public service.

Elinor Clifton imported from England a prefabricated building (perhaps a Manning's portable cottage of which the Friends' Meeting House, Adelaide was a large example) as a meeting house, hoping to attract other settlers as "Friends".
In 1847 Clifton moved to Upton House, which had been built from bricks brought from England as ballast on the ''Trusty'' when it arrived in May 1844. They had been intended for a house for Elizabeth Fry, but after her death in 1845 her husband sold them Clifton.

In 1844 he was appointed to the Leschenault Road Board, and in 1851 he became a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council. He became known for fighting for the rights of the small landholders, which caused friction with the larger landholders and merchants of the Colony. He remained in the Legislative Council until the age of 71, resigning in 1858.

Clifton died at Upton House on 10 April 1861 after a long illness. His obituary in ''The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News'' of 19 April 1861 reads:

"It is with much regret that we record in our obituary of this day the death of Marshall Waller Clifton, Esq., of Australind. From his first arrival in the Colony, 20 years ago, to the period of his death, Mr. Clifton occupied a prominent position amongst us. When in the Legislative Council he was one of its most active and intelligent members. As a Horticulturist he was pre-eminent, the practical results of his various experiments in that branch of science leaving him no compeer. As the country gentleman, he was the personification of hospitality; whilst his agreeable manners, well-stored mind, and hilarity of spirits enhanced in no small degree the pleasures of his way-faring guests. In his family relations Mr. Clifton was in all respects patriarchal, and although he lived and died 'amidst a grove of his own kindred', there were many absent ones to grieve over his loss.
In society at large he leaves a blank, as all must feel who have appreciated his presence during those periodical visits he was wont to pay to Perth and Fremantle; when, as 'The observed of all observers' his elasticity of spirits and 'Bonhommie' served to create, at least, a pleasing ripple upon the too often monotonous surface of our every day life."

Family

Rev. Francis Clifton ( – ) was married to Rebekah Katherine Clifton (née Bingham). He was a lineal descendant of the first Sir Gervase Clifton, 4th baronet of Nottingham. At least one branch of his family were early colonists of Western Australia:
*(Marshall) Waller Clifton FRS (1 November 1787 – 10 April 1861) married Elinor Bell (1793 – 1866) on 2 July 1811
:*eldest son Francis Clifton (1812 – January 1892) became eleventh baronet in 1883
:*Sir Waller Clifton (c. 1813 – 3 January 1894) of Admiralty, Whitehall, died in Fulham
:*Louisa Clifton (1814 – 12 October 1880) married George Eliot (1816 – 18 October 1895) on 1 June 1842. Eliot, a nephew of Sir James Stirling, was a passenger on the ''Parmelia'', was appointed government resident at Bunbury. Louisa is mentioned in several articles on Pioneer Women.
::*eldest daughter Maude Clifton (1844 – 18 April 1915) married Dr Thomas Henry Lovegrove (1842 – 14 December 1927) in 1869. Lovegrove was Principal Medical Officer of Western Australia.
::*Laurence Stirling Eliot (1845 – 22 February 1922), Under-Treasurer
:*(William) Pearce Clifton (2 February 1816 – 1 May 1885), farmer and resident magistrate of Bunbury. He married the widow Annette Josephine Gaudin (1816 – 8 November 1871) on 3 January 1844. They had no children. He married again, to Amy Symmons on 10 November 1874. His photographs of late-1860s Fremantle are highly regarded.
::*Robert Symmons Clifton ( –1942) of South Africa
::*Brenda Clifton (1883 – 29 May 1963) married Albert Frank Johnston ( – ) on 24 April 1932
:*Robert Williams Clifton (1817 – 23 April 1897) of Upton House, Australind, married Christina Grant Martin (December 1821 – 24 January 1909) in 1840
::*eldest son J. E. M. (John Edward Martin) Clifton (27 April 1844 – 30 November 1912) married "cousin" (and sister of Louisa Clifton below) Anne Emily Fanny Clifton (died 14 April 1894) on 11 March 1871; lived at Rosamel.
:::*William Robert "Beaumont" Clifton (1872 – 14 September 1949), noted horsebreaker, married Edith Meredith of Cookernup.
:::*Arthur Ernest Clifton (26 June 1873 – 3 August 1952) farmer at "Innadong", Brunswick, married Millie Buckland in 1901.
:::*(Francis) Maitland Clifton (27 March 1875 – 1957) married Beatrice Eleanor De Mole ( – 19 October 1938) on 8 March 1904, lived at "Rosamel", Australind.
:::*Elinor Mary Agnes Clifton (19 September 1876 – January 1951?) married Charles H. Newstead Lovegrove on 15 April 1914
:::*Edward Loftus Clifton (1879–1923) was manager of Thomas Rose's farm at Roelands. He shared the property "Rosamel" with brother Maitland.
:::*Lionel Maurice Clifton (1880–1967) of Harvey, prominent member of the Harvey Fish and Game Society
::*(Marshall) Waller Clifton (14 July 1849 – 20 September 1904), Inspector of Police, later farmed at Wokalup. On 15 April 1875 he married "cousin" Louisa Clifton (c. 1849 – 28 May 1927)
:::*Eldest daughter (twin) Grace Harriet Clifton (23 April 1876 – 1922) was born at Upton House, married Henry Charles Palmer on 27 December 1902. Grace and Jessie were bridesmaids at wedding of sister Beatrice.
:::*The other twin Jessie Christina Clifton MBE (23 April 1876 – 1 October 1959) "did valuable service during the Great War as a nurse on transports, later in charge of one of the base hospitals at Fremantle" She was engaged Frank Oliver Osborne, who however died on 7 July 1925. She never married.
:::*Gervase Clifton (September 1877 – 1957) married Florence Mabel Knowles ( – ) on 14 November 1899, lived at "Manderri", later "Yuanderri", Northampton
::::*Athol Gervase Clifton (23 May 1901 – ) married Eileen Beatrix Knowles ( – ) on 20 May 1936
::::* Marshall Waller Gervase Clifton (11 September 1903 – 3 December 1975) architect and painter, married Nancy Millicent Hughes (1911–1989) on 28 April 1934
:::::*Romola Clifton (30 November 1935 – ), painter
::::*youngest son Basil Gervase Clifton (11 Feb 1913 – 24 Jun 1976) married Eileen Winifred Mann ( – ) on 7 May 1938
:::*Reginald "Reggie" Clifton (1878–1963) with the fifth and sixth contingents to the Boer War married Alice Horatia Fry (c. 1874 – 17 February 1906) on 27 April 1905. He married again, to ?? Bellamy on 4 June 1915
:::*Richard Henry "Dick" Clifton ( – 13 September 1939) married Rachel Isabella Gibbs (c. 1880 – 29 March 1938), on 28 March 1898.
:::*Marshall Waller Clifton (29 February 1880 – 3 November 1960) of Wundi Farm married Ida Mary Counsel ( – ) c. March/April 1921, lived at Northampton
:::*Helen Beatrice Clifton (1881–1961) married Robert Christison on 14 June 1902, lived Tammin
:::*Rosina Josephine Clifton (1883 – 1961) led an active social life as companion of sister Jessie, both were nurses.
:::*Dorothy Clifton (1884 – 1954) married Thomas Myatt on 18 November 1913, a double wedding with sister Cecily.
:::*youngest daughter Cecily Clifton (1886 – 24 January 1967) married Londoner Rev. Samuel Thomas "Sam" Lindsey on 18 November 1913
:::*(Francis) Carmalt Clifton (1887–1953) had an auto repair shop in Bunbury.

::*Frances Eleanor Clifton (23 November 1851 – 19 January 1881) married John Forster Johnston ( – ) on 17 June 1874
::*R(obert) Cecil Clifton JP ISO (c. 1854 – 17 January 1931) married Rose Louisa Leake on 12 April 1882. He was Under-Secretary for Lands. He was an accomplished amateur organ builder.
::*Algernon Francis "Algy" Clifton (February 1857 – 6 January 1948) of "Alverstoke", Brunswick
::*Archibald Gervase Clifton (c. 1858 – 24 April 1938) married Fanny Leonora Hardey (died 1 August 1927) on 25 April 1884. He was warden at Lawlers and other goldfields and Resident Magistrate at Kimberley.
:::*Roy Kimberley Clifton (1896 – 15 August 1915) killed at Gallipoli in August 1915
::*(Francis) Joseph B(ingham) Clifton (c. 1861 – 17 September 1941) married Nellie Fitzgerald Davoren in 1910
:*Joseph Bingham Clifton (1819, died in infancy)
:*Elinor Katherine Clifton (c. 1820 – 21 March 1904) never married
:*Mary Clifton (1822 – 18 July 1893) married Harley Robert Johnston ( – ) on 31 December 1845. She is known for her sketches (no further details available).
::*Harry Johnston (1853–1915) was Surveyor-General of Western Australia from 1896 to 1915
:::*eldest son Edward "Bertie" Johnston (11 January 1880 – 6 September 1942) had a long and distinguished political career
:::*Edgar Johnston (30 April 1896 – 22 May 1988) was a fighter pilot in WWI and civil aviation pioneer.
:* George Clifton (1823–1913), water police officer, collector of plants and algae. He became governor of Portland and Dartmoor prisons.
:*Gervase Clifton (c. 1825 – 19 February 1913) never married
:*Charles Hippuff Clifton (1827 – 21 June 1890), long-serving public servant
:*Lucy Clifton (1829 – 17 October 1906) married Rev. Henry W. Brown ( – July 1886) in 1853. Brown was Colonial Chaplain of Bunbury.
:*youngest son Leonard Worsley Clifton (c. 1830 – 9 November 1895) Collector of Customs ?-1891. He married Elizabeth Stormonth Ferguson (c. 1829 – 10 August 1918) on 16 February 1860
::*John Maxwell Clifton (1871–1956) married Kathleen Swain Hooper on 18 July 1908.
::*Francis Gervase Clifton (1874– ) businessman, from 1911 in partnership with Frederick George Gordon Shand.
:*Rachel Catherine Clifton (1833–1852)
:*Caroline Clifton (1835–1883)

In 1979, the descendants of Marshall Waller Clifton numbered over 2,100.

In popular culture

''Perth Gossip'', a play by Canon Alfred Burton (c. 1864 – 9 December 1947), was produced for the West Australian Historical Society on November 1933 at the Karrakatta Club, and again at the Burt Memorial Hall on 8 May 1934. The play was set in the drawing-room of Upton House, and centred around a visit from Archdeacon Wollaston (played by Burton), with the Clifton family (Marshall Waller Clifton, his Quaker wife, and children Mrs Johnston, Mrs George Eliot and Pearce Clifton) pumping him for gossip about other settlers. Several latter-day members of the family were in the cast.

Further reading

Articles by Miss D. C. Cowan
Chronicle of Early Days I.Chronicle of Early Days II.
From the diary of Louisa Eliot, née Clifton
Australind Reminiscences

Notes

References

"Alverstoke": Emily K. Clifton, Artlook Books 1981; verbal anecdotes from various Clifton family members and descendants (Emily Ker Clifton, Ethel Ozanne née Davies, Brian Henry Ozanne in particular).

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clifton, Marshall
1787 births
1861 deaths
Settlers of Western Australia
English emigrants to colonial Australia
Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council
Fellows of the Royal Society
19th-century Australian politicians