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Sir Hugh CliffordGCMG GBE
19th Governor of the Straits Settlements
In office 3 June 1927 – 21 October 1929
Monarch	George V
Preceded by	Sir Laurence Guillemard
Succeeded by	Sir John Scott (Acting) Sir Cecil Clementi
24th Governor of British Ceylon
In office 30 November 1925 – June 1927
Monarch	George V
Preceded by	Edward Bruce Alexander (Acting)
Succeeded by	Arthur George Murchison Fletcher (Acting)
Governor of Nigeria
In office 8 August 1919 – 13 November 1925
Monarch	George V
Preceded by	Sir Frederick Lugard (Governor-General of Nigeria)
Succeeded by	Sir Graeme Thomson
Governor of Gold Coast
In office 26 December 1912 – 1 April 1919
Monarch	George V
Preceded by	James Jamieson Thorburn Herbert Bryan (Acting)
Succeeded by	Alexander Ransford Slater
Acting Governor of British Ceylon
In office 11 July 1907 – 24 August 1907
Monarch	Edward VII
Preceded by	Henry Arthur Blake
Succeeded by	Henry Edward McCallum
Governor of North Borneo
In office 1900–1901
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	Leicester P. Beaufort
Succeeded by	Ernest W. Birch
Personal details
Born	(1866-03-05)5 March 1866 Roehampton, London, England, United Kingdom
Died	18 December 1941(1941-12-18) (aged 75) Roehampton, London, England, United Kingdom
Spouse(s)	Minna à Beckett ​ ​(m. 1896; died 1907)​ Elizabeth de la Pasture ​ ​(m. 1910; died 1941)​
Children	3
Parent(s)	Henry Hugh Clifford Josephine Elizabeth Anstice
Profession	Colonial administrator

Sir Hugh Charles Clifford (5 March 1866 – 18 December 1941) was a British colonial administrator who held several governorships.

Early life

Clifford was born in Roehampton, London, the sixth of the eight children of Major-General Sir Henry Hugh Clifford and his wife Josephine Elizabeth, née Anstice; his grandfather was Hugh Clifford, 7th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh.

Career

Clifford intended to follow his father, Sir Henry Hugh Clifford, a distinguished British Army general, into the military, but later decided to join the civil service in the Straits Settlements, with the assistance of his relative Sir Frederick Weld, the then Governor of the Straits Settlements and also the British High Commissioner in Malaya. He was later transferred to the British Protectorate of the Federated Malay States. Clifford arrived in Malaya in 1883, aged 17.

He first became a cadet in the State of Perak. During his twenty years there and on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula in Pahang, Clifford socialised with the local Malays and studied their language and culture deeply. He came to sympathise strongly with and admire certain aspects of the traditional indigenous cultures, while recognising that their transformation as a consequence of the colonial project which he served was inevitable. He was a Government agent of Pahang (1887-1888), Superintendent of Ulu Pahang (1889), served as British Resident at Pahang, 1896–1900 and 1901–1903, and Governor of North Borneo, 1900–1901.

In 1903, he left Malaya to take the post of Colonial Secretary of Trinidad and Tobago. Later he was appointed Governor of British Ceylon (1907-1912), Governor of the Gold Coast, 1912–1919, Nigeria, 1919–1925, and Ceylon, 1925–1927. During his service in Malaya and afterwards he wrote numerous stories, reflections and novels primarily about Malayan life, many of them imbued with an ambivalent nostalgia. His last posting was, for him, a welcome return to the Malaya he loved, as Governor of the Straits Settlements and British High Commissioner in Malaya, where he served from 1927 until 1929, after which Lady Clifford's ill-health forced his retirement. Alongside his other books he wrote Farther India (the book title itself is referencing an old term referring to Southeast Asia) which chronicles European explorations and discoveries in Southeast Asia.

Personal life

On 15 April 1896, Clifford married Minna à Beckett, the only child of Gilbert Arthur à Beckett. Before her death on 14 January 1907, they had one son and two daughters:

• Hugh Gilbert Francis Clifford (1897–1916), who was killed on 1 July 1916, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, aged 19.
• Mary Agnes Philippa Clifford (1898–1978), who married Maj.-Gen. Sir Noel Galway Holmes, a son of Capt. Harry W. Holmes, in 1920.
• Monica Elizabeth Mary Clifford (1903–1965), who married Maj. Cecil Edward Trafford, son of Edward Southwell Trafford and Hon. Eleanor Mary Petre (a daughter of the 12th Baron Petre), in 1925. After his death, she married Maj. Richard Desiré Girouard, a son of Maj.-Gen. Sir Edward Percy Cranwell Girouard and widower of Blanche Girouard (née Lady Blanche Beresford), in 1952.

On 24 September 1910 Clifford remarried, to Elizabeth Lydia Rosabelle Bonham, CBE, daughter of Edward Bonham of Bramling, Kent, a British consul. A Catholic, she was the widow of Henry Philip Ducarel de la Pasture of Llandogo Priory, Monmouthshire. Clifford thus became stepfather to E. M. Delafield, author of the Provincial Lady series.

Clifford died peacefully on 18 December 1941 in his native Roehampton. His widow, Elizabeth, died on 30 October 1945.

Legacy

Several schools in Malaysia are named Clifford School in his honour, such as;

• SK Clifford, Kuala Lipis
• SMK Clifford, Kuala Lipis
• SK Clifford, Kuala Kangsar
• SMK Clifford, Kuala Kangsar

Clifford Pier in Singapore was built between 1927 and 1933, and was named after Sir Hugh Clifford when he was the former Governor of the Straits Settlements between 1927 and 1930. It was opened on 3 June 1933.

In popular culture

Clifford is briefly referred to in V. S. Naipaul's The Mimic Men. Though he was Colonial Secretary of Trinidad and Tobago (second in command to the Governor), in the book he is named as a former Governor of Isabella, a fictitious Caribbean island based on Trinidad.

Honours

Clifford was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1909, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in the 1921 Birthday Honours, and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in 1926.

Publications

• A Dictionary of the Malay Language (1894–1902). Co-authored with Frank Swettenham, the dictionary, which was published in stages between 1894 and 1902, was abandoned after the letter 'G' as by then it had been made redundant by the publication of R.J. Wilkinson's A Malay English Dictionary.
• Studies in Brown Humanity: Being Scrawls and Smudges in Sepia, White, and Yellow (1898).
• Clifford, Hugh (1911) The Downfall of the Gods. Historical novel about the decline of the Khmer Empire in the 13th century AD. London, John Murray.
• Clifford, Hugh (1970) In a corner of Asia; being tales and impressions of men and things in the Malay Peninsula. Freeport, New York : Books for Libraries Press.
• Clifford, Hugh (1978) Journal of a mission to Pahang : January 15 to April 11, 1887. Honolulu : University of Hawaii, Southeast Asian Studies Program.
• Clifford, Hugh (1989) Saleh : a prince of Malaya. Singapore : Oxford University Press.

Originally published: A prince of Malaya. New York : Harper & Brothers, 1926.

• Clifford, Hugh (1989) In Court and Kampung. Singapore : Graham Brash (Pte.) Ltd. ISBN 9971-4-9199-0

First published as: East coast etchings. Singapore : Straits Times Press, 1896.

• Clifford, Hugh (1992) Report of an expedition into Trengganu and Kelantan in 1895. Kuala Lumpur : MBRAS.

"First published in the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, v. 34 pt. 1 in 1961" --T.p. verso.

• Clifford, Hugh (1993) At the court of Pelesu and other Malayan stories. Kuala Lumpur : Oxford University Press, 1993.

First published as: Stories by Sir Hugh Clifford. Kuala Lumpur : Oxford University Press, 1966.

"An expedition to Kelantan and Trengganu : 1895"--cover title.

References

1. ^ Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, page 822.
2. ^ "H. E. to leave Singapore on Friday". The Straits Times. 15 October 1929. p. 11.
3. "Lieutenant Hugh Gilbert Francis Clifford". www.cwgc.org. Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
4. "Mary Agnes Philippa Holmes (née Clifford) (1898-1978), Wife of Sir Noel Galway Holmes; daughter of Sir Hugh Charles Clifford". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
5. "Monica Elizabeth Mary Trafford (née Clifford) (1903-1965), Wife of Cecil Edward Trafford; daughter of Sir Hugh Charles Clifford". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
6. The Catholic Who's Who & Yearbook, 1930
7. Everyman's Dictionary of Literary Biography, 3rd ed. (1962)
8. Savage, Victor R; Yeoh, Brenda S. A (2013). Toponymics: a study of Singapore street names. Marshall Cavendish Editions. pp. 56–57. ISBN 978-981-4408-35-6. OCLC 842138452.
9. Naipaul, V. S. (2011). The Mimic Men. London: Picador. pp. 148–149. ISBN 9780330522922.
10. "No. 32346". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 June 1921. p. 4533.
11. Hugh Clifford (1898). Studies in Brown Humanity: Being Scrawls and Smudges in Sepia, White, and Yellow. London: Grant Richards, 9 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, W.C. OCLC 2059083.
12. Ernest A. Baker, A Guide to Historical Fiction. London : G. Routledge and Sons, 1914.(p. 402)

External links

• Biografi Clifford
• Cowan, C. D. (Charles Donald)(1961) Nineteenth-century Malaya : the origins of British political control. London : Oxford University Press.
• Swettenham, Frank Athelstane (1907), British Malaya: an account of the origin and progress of British influence in Malaya. London : John Lane the Bodley Head.
• Gailey, Harry A. (1982) Clifford, imperial proconsul. London : Rex Collings.
• Holden, Philip (2000) Modern subjects/colonial texts : Hugh Clifford & the discipline of English literature in the Straits Settlements & Malaya, 1895-1907. Greensboro, North Carolina : ELT Press.
• Works by or about Hugh Clifford at Wikisource
• Works by Hugh Clifford at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Hugh Clifford at the Internet Archive
• Works by Hugh Clifford at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Newspaper clippings about Hugh Clifford in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

v t e ← Members of the 1924 Legislative Council of Ceylon (1924 (1924)–1931) →
President: Hugh Clifford (1924–27); Murchison Fletcher (1927–28); Herbert Stanley (1928–31); Bernard Henry Bourdillon (1931); Graeme Thomson (1931) Vice President: James Peiris (1924–1930); Don Baron Jayatilaka (1930–31)
Ex offico Members (5)	General Officer Commanding the Troops Harold Higginson Colonial Secretary Cecil Clementi Murchison Fletcher Edward Bruce Alexander Attorney General Lancelot Elphinstone Controller of Revenue Edward Bruce Alexander Walter Ernest Wait Colonial Treasurer Wilfrid Wentworth Woods
Nominated Members (10)	Official Members (7) Frank Arthur Stockdale Lachlan Macrae John Strachan James Frederick Edmund Bridger Francis Graeme Tyrrell Thomas Reid Maas Thajoon Akbar Unofficial Members (3) Hermann Albert Loos Gerard Wijeyekoon Kadiravalepillai Balasingham
Elected Members (34)	Territorial (24) Colombo Town (North) (1) Victor Corea Colombo Town (South) (1) James Peiris Colombo District (1) Don Baron Jayatilaka Negombo District (1) D. S. Senanayake Kalutara Revenue District (1) E. W. Perera Western Province (Ceylon Tamil) (1) Arunachalam Mahadeva Central Province (Urban) (1) Gerard Wijeyekoon Central Province (Rural) (1) George E. de Silva Northern Province (Northern) (1) Ponnambalam Ramanathan Northern Province (Southern) (1) A. Canagaratnam Northern Province (Eastern) (1) T. M. Sabaratnam (from 19 Feb. 1925) Northern Province (Western) (1) Waithilingam Duraiswamy Northern Province (Central) (1) Suppiramaniam Rajaratnam Southern Province (Eastern) (1) V. S. de S. Wikramanayake Southern Province (Central) (1) Forester Augustus Obeyesekere Southern Province (Western) (1) C. W. W. Kannangara Trincomalee Revenue District (1) M. M. Subramaniam Batticaloa Revenue District (1) E. R. Tambimuttu North Western Province (Western Division) (1) C. H. Z. Fernando North Western Province (Eastern Division) (1) Godfrey Edward Madawala North Central Province (1) H. R. Freeman Province of Uva (1) Henry Kotelawala Kegalla Revenue District (1) Alexander Francis Molamure Ratnapura Revenue District (1) Arthur Hamilton Ekneligoda Molamure Communal (10) European (Urban) (1) Unfinished European (Rural) (1) Unfinished Commercial (1) Unfinished Burgher (2) George Alfred Henry Wille Nathaniel John Martin Muhammadan (3) Mohamed Macan Markar N. H. M. Abdul Cader T. B. Jayah Indian (2) I. X. Pereira S. R. Muhammad Sultan K. Natesa Iyer (from 11 Dec. 1925) Unknown Thomas Yates Wright Edwin James Hayward William Loring Kindersley Thomas Southorn (until 1925) George Thornton Alfred Henry Frank Clarke (from 26 Nov. 1924) W. A. de Silva (from 19 Feb. 1925) Punchi Banda Rambukwelle (from 19 Feb. 1925) Thomas Lister Villiers (from 19 Nov. 1925) Neill Graeme Campbell (from Mar. 1926)

Governors of Singapore (1819–1959)
(with italics * for the Acting)
Resident of Singapore (1819–1826)	William Farquhar Dr. John Crawfurd
Governors of the Straits Settlements (under British India) (1826–1867)	Robert Fullerton Robert Ibbetson Kenneth Murchison Sir Samuel George Bonham William John Butterworth Edmund Augustus Blundell
Governors of the Straits Settlements (under Colonial Office) (1867–1942)	Sir Orfeur Cavenagh Sir Harry St. George Ord Sir Andrew Clarke Sir William Jervois Sir Archibald Edward Harbord Anson * Sir William Cleaver Francis Robinson Sir Archibald Edward Harbord Anson * Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld Sir Cecil Clementi Smith William Edward Maxwell * Sir Charles Bullen Hugh Mitchell Sir James Alexander Swettenham * Sir Frank Athelstane Swettenham Sir John Anderson Sir Arthur Henderson Young Sir Laurence Nunns Guillemard Sir Hugh Charles Clifford Sir John Scott * Sir Cecil Clementi Sir Andrew Caldecott * Sir Thomas Shenton Whitelegge Thomas
Japanese Mayor of Syonan (1942–1945)	Shigeo Odate Kanichi Naito
British Military Administration of the Straits Settlements (1945–1946)	Lord Louis Mountbatten Sir Thomas Shenton Whitelegge Thomas
Governors of the Crown Colony of Singapore (1946–1959)	Sir Franklin Charles Gimson Wilfred Lawson Blythe * Sir John Fearns Nicoll William Allmond Codrington Goode * Sir Robert Brown Black Sir William Allmond Codrington Goode

• Governors of British Ceylon
• Governors of the Straits Settlements
• Administrators in British Singapore
• 1866 births
• 1941 deaths
• People from Roehampton
• Clifford family
• Governors of North Borneo
• British governors and governors-general of Nigeria
• English Roman Catholics
• Colonial Administrative Service officers
• Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
• Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
• Governors of the Gold Coast (British colony)
• British expatriates in British Trinidad and Tobago
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• 20th-century British novelists
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• English orientalists
• Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages
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