Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland

Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland (1517 – January 1570) was a member of the Clifford family, seated at Skipton Castle from 1310 to 1676. His wife was Lady Eleanor Brandon, a niece of King Henry VIII.

Henry was a son of Henry Clifford, 1st Earl of Cumberland by his wife Margaret Percy, daughter of Henry Algernon Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland and Catherine Spencer.

His maternal great-grandfather was Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, whose wife was Maud Herbert, Countess of Northumberland. His maternal grandmother was a daughter of Sir Robert Spencer and Eleanor Beaufort. Eleanor was a daughter of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset and Eleanor Beauchamp. She was a granddaughter of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick and Elizabeth Berkeley. He served as hereditary High Sheriff of Westmorland.

He married twice:

First marriage

Firstly, before June 1537, to Lady Eleanor Brandon (d.27 September 1547), his half fourth cousin, the second daughter of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk by his wife Mary Tudor, former queen consort of France. According to the Third Succession Act of 23 March 1544, she was the seventh-in-line to the throne of the Kingdom of England. With her death her daughter Margaret took her place in the line of succession. The expenses of this alliance seriously impoverished Henry's estate and obliged him to alienate the great manor of Temedbury, Herefordshire, the oldest estate then remaining in the family. Eleanor was a younger sister of Henry Brandon (who died very young) and Lady Frances Brandon and an older sister of Henry Brandon, 1st Earl of Lincoln (named after their dead brother). Her paternal grandparents were Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth Bruyn. Her maternal grandparents were Henry VII of England and his queen consort Elizabeth of York. Following her death in 1547 Henry retired to the country, and concentrated on increasing his paternal inheritance, and is said to have visited the court only thrice: at Queen Mary's coronation, on his daughter's marriage, and again soon after Queen Elizabeth's accession. By his wife Eleanor Brandon Henry had three children:

• Lady Margaret Clifford (1540 - 29 September 1596), wife of Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby.
• Henry Clifford, died an infant.
• Charles Clifford, died an infant.

Second marriage

Secondly he married Anne Dacre (c. 1521 - July 1581), a daughter of William Dacre, 3rd Baron Dacre (1500-1563) by his wife Elizabeth Talbot, a daughter of George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury and Anne Hastings. Anne Hastings was a daughter of William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings and Katherine Neville. Katherine Neville was a daughter of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury and Alice Neville, 5th Countess of Salisbury. By Anne Dacre Henry had at least three children:

• George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland (8 August 1558 – 30 October 1605)
• Francis Clifford, 4th Earl of Cumberland (1559–1641).
• Frances Clifford (d. 1592), wife of Philip Wharton, 3rd Baron Wharton.

• ^

In July 1561 Henry and Lord Dacre, his father-in-law, were accused of protecting the popish priests in the north. A similar charge was advanced in February 1562. He was in 1569 strongly opposed to the contemplated marriage of Mary Queen of Scots and Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, and readily promised support to the great rebellion of that year. In May 1569 he was in London. As the year wore on he gave in his adherence to the scheme for proclaiming Mary queen of England; but when the critical moment arrived he did not act with vigour, but as a 'crazed man, leaving his tenants to the leadership of Leonard Dacres'. He assisted Lord Scrope in fortifying Carlisle against the rebels. Henry is described by his daughter as having 'a good library,' being 'studious in all manner of learning, and much given to alchemy.'

He died shortly after 8 January 1569-70, at Brougham Castle, and was buried at Skipton Castle.