occupation

Stonemason

dates

Born: 1851, Mangersbury
            Stow-on-the-Wold, Glos

Married: 1) Emma LYNES, 11 Nov 1878

            Hook Norton, Oxon

2) Harriet JORDAN, 22 Sept 1898

            Hook Norton, Oxon

Died: 7 Dec 1933

residence

Hook Norton, Oxon

submitted by

Jean LINDSAY (great-niece)

related faces

None advised

copyright information

The pictures shown here are in the collection of Jean Lindsay. They should not be reproduced without permission.

Background information

The CLIFFORDs were a long line of notable stonemasons in Stow-on-the-Wold in the Cotswolds, dating back to c.1660. Edward CLIFFORD left Stow when he married Emma, an Oxfordshire girl, and setttled in Hook Norton as a self-employed mason.

In the 1880s, for reasons unknown, Emma left Edward, who employed Harriet JORDAN as his housekeeper and to help bring up his only child, Edward James. The death of Emma could not be traced, but in 1898, Edward married Harriet JORDAN. They had no children.

Edward employed his son as a mason until the son emigrated to Canada, where he died in 1920. Edward and Harriet lived in Bean Acre cottage, which Edward owned. It was near the viaduct (as the picture shows) and was inherited by his niece, my mother, in 1951, on the death of Harriet. It was then sold and still stands.