Thu, April 11th, 2024
The Windsor-Clive Family
Posted in the News Category
News
On Thursday 11th April more than 50 people gathered in the Parish Hall, Albert Road to hear Chris Riley’s talk on the Windsor-Clive family.
The story started in the 11th century with an entry in the Domesday Book for Stanwell, a village now in Surrey and not very far from Heathrow Airport. You wonder what the inhabitants of the village would think if they came back today!
The Windsors became Lords of the Manor of Stanwell and the history of the family and the crown became entwined.
At the Battle of Bosworth on the opposing side to the King. The Windsors had remained a Catholic family and they lost a lot of their lands, but they were later restored. The family remained Catholic during the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I which resulted in them being fined and unable to hold high office although Edward Windsor held the title of 3rd Baron Windsor
In 1628, Thomas Windsor had no son to follow him but he had 2 sisters. Elizabeth married Dixie Hickman, son of a wealthy merchant family. The family was Protestant. Thomas left his money to Elizabeth’s son provided he took the family name Windsor.
The son, Thomas, became the 7th Baron Windsor and 1st Earl of Plymouth. He and his wife had 2 sons, Other (pronounced Oh-ther) and Thomas. Thomas married Charlotte Herbert.
Other’s son, also called Other, became the 2nd Earl of Plymouth.
Thomas and Charlotte’s son Herbert became Viscount Windsor and his daughter married the Marquis of Bute (a Scottish nobleman).
Land in Penarth was owned by Bristol Cathedral and was leased to the Lewis and Herbert families.
The 3rd Earl of Plymouth married Sarah Archer and became an MP. Their family included Harriet (Baroness Windsor) who paid for the building of the ‘new’ St Augustine’s.
Enter – Robert Clive. He was a soldier who fought wars in India in the 19th century including the Battle of Plassey. His daughter, Henrietta, married the 1st Earl of Powis.
Robert Clive married Lady Harriet Windsor in 1819 and their son, Robert Windsor-Clive, married Lady Mary Bridgeman. The families had properties in Ludlow (South Salop).
The family spent a lot of money on church buildings.
In the 1830s Penarth, which had been a small agricultural community, began to grow. In 1851 the harbour and railway were built followed in 1860 by the docks and further railway works.
Lady Windsor originally hired the architect Charles Edward Barnard to plan the enlarging town and a new, enlarged St Augustine’s Church. She didn’t like his plans and turned instead to William Butterfield who had been the architect of her church at Alvechurch. Robert Forrest became the agent for the Windsor-Clive family in their plans for the fast-growing town.
This was a very interesting talk and explained the familiar names we see every day in the street names of Penarth.
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