Gervase Clifton (II) was the son of Sir Gervase Clifton (I) (died 15 November 1453) of Hodsock and Clifton, Nottinghamshire, only son of Sir John Clifton (slain at the Battle of Shrewsbury on 21 July 1403), and his wife, Katherine Cressy. The younger Sir Gervase Clifton's mother was Isabel Fraunceys (d. 13 June 1457), the daughter of Sir Robert Fraunceys of Foremark, Derbyshire. His only sibling was a brother, Robert Clifton.[1]
Clifton served as Lieutenant of Dover Castle and as Captain of Pontoise, France where he was knighted. He came into an estate at Brabourne, Kent, by his marriage to an heiress, Isabel Herbert. He was Mayor of Canterbury in 1450, served as High Sheriff of Kent for 1439, 1450 and 1458 and represented Kent in the Parliament of 1455.
Clifton was not captain of Pontoise; he was not knighted there. There is no contemporary source that Clifton was ever at Pontoise; Hall is a Tudor historian. He was still an esquire when he became Treasurer of Calais in May 1451, not 1450.[3]
He was declared a traitor for his support of Margaret of Anjou. He took part in and was captured at the Battle of Tewkesbury during the Wars of the Roses and was beheaded in Tewkesbury market place along with other Lancastrian leaders on 6 May 1471.
Marriages and children
Clifton married twice, leaving no sons, only two daughters and co-heiresses by his first wife.
First wife
Clifton's first wife was Isabel Herbert (died c. November 1457), widow of William Scott (died 5 February 1434) of Brabourne, Kent, and daughter of Vincent Herbert (alias Finche) of Netherfield, Sussex by his wife Isabel Cralle, daughter and coheiress of Robert Cralle. Their two daughters were:[4]
Isabel Clifton, who in 1459 married John Jerningham (died 1503) of Somerleyton, Suffolk, by whom she had two sons and several daughters, including:[4][5][6][7]
Sir Edward Jerningham (died 1515), who married firstly Margaret Bedingfield (d. 24 March 1504), and secondly Mary Scrope (d. 25 August 1548).
Margaret (or Mary) Jerningham, who married Thomas Stanhope of Rampton and was the grandmother of Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (née Anne Stanhope).
Joan Clifton, who married John Digges of Digges Court in Barham, Kent and was the grandmother of the scientist, Leonard Digges.[8][9]
There were no children from Clifton's second marriage, and after his death his widow, Maud Stanhope, alleged that he had 'wasted and destroyed' more than £1000 worth of jewels, plate and household goods which she brought to the marriage as her dowry. She died 30 August 1497, and was buried in the Collegiate Church at Tattershall, Lincolnshire.;[10][11][12][13]
Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. I (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. pp. 511–13, 571–2. ISBN978-1449966379.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. IV (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN978-1460992708.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
The Baronetage of England, Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of all the Baronets now existing, Edward Kimber and Richard Johnson Vol. I (1771) p. 26. Google Books.