Hugh Clifford

Sir Hugh Clifford

Sir Hugh Charles Clifford was born on 5 March 1866 in London, the son of Major-General Sir Henry Hugh Clifford and Josephine Elizabeth Anstice; his grandfather was Hugh Clifford, 7th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, who was a descendant of Sir Thomas Clifford, a member of the Cabal Ministry during the reign of Charles II of England. Clifford married Minna Beckett, daughter of Gilbert Beckett, on 15 April 1896, and they had one son and two daughters. His first wife died in 1907, and on 24 September 1910 he married Elizabeth Lydia Rosabelle de la Pasture née Bonham, with whom he had four sons and seven daughters. Clifford died on 18 December 1941 in Roehampton, London.

Clifford followed his father into the British Army, but later decided to join the civil service in Straits Settlements, with assistance from his relative Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld, the then Governor of Straits Settlements and also the British High Commissioner in Malaya. Clifford arrived in Malaya in 1883, at the age of 17. He first became the Cadet in State of Perak. During his 20 years in Perak, Clifford socialized with the local Malays and studied their language and culture. He became the British Resident of Pahang (1896-1900 and 1901-1903), and Governor of Labuan (1900-1901). Clifford was knighted in 1903.

In 1903, he left Malaya to take the post of Colonial Secretary in Trinidad. Later he was appointed Governor of the Gold Coast (1912-1919), Nigeria (1919-1925), and Ceylon (1925-1927). Those places could not replace Malaya in his heart; he kept writing stories and novels about Malays' everyday life.

His last posting was as Governor of Straits Settlements and British High Commissioner in Malaya from 1927 until 1930. He wrote Farther India which chronicles European explorations and discoveries in Southeast Asia.

Preceded by John Pickersgill Rodger	British Resident of Pahang 1896-1900	Succeeded by Arthur Butler
Preceded by Leicester Paul Beaufort	Governor of Labuan 1900-1901	Succeeded by Sir Ernest Woodford Birch
Preceded by D.H. Wise	British Resident of Pahang 1901-1903	Succeeded by Cecil Wray
Preceded by ?	Colonial Secretary in Trinidad 1903-?	Succeeded by ?
Preceded by Herbert Bryan	Governor of Gold Coast 1912-1919	Succeeded by Sir Alexander Ransford Slater
Preceded by Sir Frederick Lugard	Governor General of Nigeria 1919-1925	Succeeded by Sir Graeme Thomson
Preceded by Sir William H. Manning	Governor of Ceylon 1925-1927	Succeeded by Sir H.J. Stanley
Preceded by Sir Laurence Nunns Guillemard	Governor of Straits Settlements and British High Commissioner in Malaya 1927-1930	Succeeded by Sir Cecil Clementi Smith

Sir Frank Swettenham, British Malaya, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., (1906)
Dr. C.D. Cowan, Nineteenth Century Malaya The Origins of British Political Contral, Oxford University Press, (1961)

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