SIR CHARLES CLIFFORD

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22506, 14 September 1938, Page 12

SIR CHARLES CLIFFORD

DEATH YESTERDAY AT STONYHURST NOTED SPORTSMAN AND PASTORALIST TITLE PASSES TO HIS UNCLE After being in failing health for several months. Sir Charles Lewis Clifford became critically ill on Monday and died at Stonyhurst yesterday afternoon without rallying. He was the third baronet. The title now passes to his uncle, Walter Lovelace Clifford, who lives at Fendalton. Sir Charles was known throughout New Zealand for his connexion with the turf, on which the family colours of blue and gold chequers were carried with distinction, while he continued to maintain the Stonyhurst Stud, so soundly established by his father. After active service at Salonika and the Dardanelles, Sir Charles, who succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of Sir George Clifford in April, 1930, did not enjoy good health, the effects of enteric and malarial fever never leaving him. Sir Charles was born at Wellington on July 17, 1885. His { early years were lived in England, and he came out again to New Zealand when he was eight years of age. He was educated at the Marist Brothers’ School, Christchurch, and St. Patrick’s College, Wellington, before going to Stonyhurst, in England. On being rejected from the New Zealand forces at the beginning of the war, he went to England and gained a commission in the Lancashire Hussars Yeomanry, and later served with the Lancashire Fusiliers and the 9th King’s Own Regiment with the Salonika army. He returned to .New Zealand on sick leave ' and then went back to Salonika. When the war ended, he joined his father at Stonyhurst, which he managed until he succeeded to the estate. Sir Charles Clifford was always keenly interested in yachting and shipping. On ins father’s death he became a conspicuous patron of racing, and he was 3 steward of the Canterbury Jockey LJub. He was also a director of the Christchurch Gas Company. Ltd. Sir Charles was unmarried. The funeral will take place on Thursd?y: I Re(^ ul . e i m ,. Mass will be celebrated at ,**l? Catholic Cathedral at 9 a.m and the interment will take place at' the Lin wood cemetery. j Success on the Turf [ Following the traditions set by his father. Sir Charles Clifford typified all wa ? kest in the sport of racing. AJthougn he was a keen student of breeding when he succeeded to the i title, he was not as enthusiastic in the 1 u C ji, racin S of horses as his father 1 had been. His decision to continue - the famed Stonyhurst stud and the ' Chokebore Lodge stable at Riccarton gave immense gratification to the racing community, and it was not long before Sir Charles was displaying the fullest measure of his father’s enthusiasm for the sport. He raced horses of his own breeding and in nine seasons he won £39.956 in stakes. He ' was at the head of the list of winning i owners in the Dominion on six occasions, his best year being 1936-37. when 5 horses carrying the chequers won £9586. , He won the New Zealand Cup ana ■( the Auckland Cup with Fast Passage 1 which also won a Winter Cup. These ■ were handicap events which escapeu ■ his father. Other important handicap • races which his horses won were the i Dunedin Cup (Wild Chase). Stewards' Handicap (Paper Slipper), and the , Jockey Club Handicap (Fracas and < Trench Fight). Among the classic 1 races - won by his horses were:—New ! Zealand Derby (Wild Chase), Wei- J come Stakes (Wild Chase), New Zea- ’ land .Oaks (Top Notch), Canterbury 1 Cup (Wild Chase), Middle Park Plate ’ (Wild Chase and Paper Slipper) i Champagne Stakes (Fracas and Wild Chase), Challenge Stakes (Cricket Bat < and Fracas). Hazlett Gold Cup (Wild 1 Chase ■ and Cricket Bat). Dunedin s Champagne Stakes (Fracas and i Haughty Winner), McLean Stakes ) (Card Player), Dunedin Guineas ] (Paper Slipper). Awapuni Gold Cup < (Wild Chase), North Island Challenge i Stakes (Cricket Bat and Wild Chase;, , and New Zealand St. Leger (Wild . Chase). Two members of the Clifford family have given great service to racing In New Zealand, and a striking feature * of their association with the sport is 1 that their only trainers have been 1 members of the Cutts family. Edward 1 Cutts trained Sir George Clifford’s 1 horses for 30 years, and on his death 1 in 1915 the training was entrusted to 1 his sons. Messrs H. and A. Cutts, who 1 were equally successful for Sir Charles ] Clifford. J Famous Family Name ’ Clifford is a famous name in Eng’ | land. The head of the family is Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, the title going back to 1672. The first baron was Sir . Thomas Clifford, who, in the reign of Charles 11, was a member of the “Cabal” Ministry, which desired to , strengthen the Royal prerogative by moderating the unifonnity laws. In this it was not successful, the King being compelled by Parliament to withdraw the Declaration of Indulgence and to assent to the Test Act which, by excluding" all Catholics from office, obliged Clifford and Arlington to resign. The New Zealand baronets are descended from the third Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, and it is noteworthy that the present Baron Clif- ! ford of Chudleigh, before succeeding ■ to the title, worked on a New Zealand sheepfarm till 1890, when he went to , Tasmania. ,

The first baronet, the father of Sir Walter Clifford, who now succeeds to the title, was not only one of the pioneers of New Zealand but also was connected with the beginning of responsible government in New Zealand. Charles Clifford arrived in New Zealand in 1843 and with Sir (then Mr' Frederick Weld established the first sheep station io this country in tho Wairarapa district; and he was the first to enter into pastoral pursuits in the South Island, having taken up a licence for depasturing stock on native grass lands in the Marlborough district on the tract of country afterwards known as Flaxbourne. In the management and control of this station of close on 200,000 acres, Charles Clifford was assisted by Mr Weld, who was Prime Minister in 1864-65. The former was one of the active members cl the New Zealand Association who agitated for representative institutions before the Constitution Act, passed by the Imperial Government, became law. With Wakefield, the first Sir Charles Clifford successfully battled for “the reality of local selfgovernment” for New Zealand. He returned to the colony in time to be elected to the first Parliament under the new constitution in 1854. and was elected the first Speaker in the House of Representatives, an office from which he retired in 1861.