Adam Cliff

1781 - 1851

Claimant or beneficiary

Biography

Liverpool merchant, partner, trustee and executor [as well as consignee] of Thomas Pepper Thompson (q.v.), and mortgagee of enslaved people in Jamaica.

  1. 1841 census shows Adam Cliff age 60 merchant living at Richmond House, Walton-on-the-Hill, West Derby; 1851 Q1 registration of death of Adam Cliff W. Derby.

  2. Will of Adam Cliff gentleman [late] of Walton on the Hill Lancashire [but now of Granville in the island of Jersey] [made in 1844 with a codicil of 1849] proved 11/04/1851. The will is largely a generic mercantile will distributing his property among his five children.

  3. Edward Adam Cliff died King William's Town Cape Colony South Africa 13/12/1874. Administration granted to Ellen Emilia Cliff spinster; effects £8100. (Edward Adam Cliff was born 01/10/1819 to Adam Cliff and Ellen Cliff and baptised the following year in Liverpool.)

  4. 'William Cliff was the son of shipping merchant Adam Cliff, who established Thompson and Cliff in Liverpool 1831 [sic]. William was born in Lime Street, where Adam and his family lived, and when Adam died in 1851 his son took over the family business. He went on to become one of the most successful merchants and benefactors in 19th century Liverpool, funding the Home for Aged Mariners in Liscard and three homes for homeless children. It is believed that William had Claremont built for himself, his wife Marion and nine of their children who - at the time of the 1871 census - were aged between 6 months and 26 years. Wiliam died at Claremont in 1891...' House subsequently lived in by Carla Lane late 1960s, converted into apartments c. 2005. William Cliff left £319,091 18s 5d at his death in 1891.

  5. The connection, if any, with the Adam Cliff Day Nursery, reportedly opened variously in 1874 or '110 years ago' [i.e. c. 1890] at 63 Everton Road, has not yet been established.


Sources

T71/857 St Ann claim nos. 513 (Mount Carmel) and 514 (Mount Carmel); T71/874 Trelawney claim nos. 38, 40 (Lancaster), 41 (Lancaster) and 543 Trelawney (Tillstone Estate); T71/873 St James claim no. 611.

  1. 1841 census online. Children are from Ancestry.com, England & Wales Christening Records, 1530-1906 [database online], except Mary who appears in the 1841 census. FreeUKGen, England and Wales Free BMD Database, Deaths, 1837-1983 [database online].

  2. PROB 11/2130/187.

  3. National Probate Calendar 1894. Ancestry.com, Liverpool, Lancashire, England, Baptisms, 1813-1906 [database online].

  4. 'Claremont has reflected the changing face of the city for nearly 200 years', Liverpool Echo 06/07/2005: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Claremont+has+reflected+the+changing+face+of+the+city+for+nearly+200...-a0133804425 [accessed 05/11/2010]; National Probate Calendar 1891.

  5. http://www.evertonnurseryschoolandfamilycentre.org/history.html [accessed 07/07/2016]; E.W. Hope, Health at the Gateway p. 103.


Further Information

Absentee?
British/Irish
Spouse
Ellen
Children
Frances, Ann, Ellen, Eliza, Amelia, Margaret, Mary, Charlotte, Henry (1808-), Edward Adam Cliff (1819-1874), William (1812-)
Occupation
Merchant

Associated Claims (7)

£1,881 19s 7d
Claimants in List E or Chancery cases
£238 7s 9d
Awardee (Mortgagee)
£118 0s 0d
Awardee
£4,973 4s 1d
Claimants in List E or Chancery cases
£4,378 13s 6d
Claimants in List E or Chancery cases
£1,002 15s 9d
Awardee (Mortgagee)
£8,741 7s 8d
Awardee (Mortgagee)

Associated Estates (2)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1834 [EA] - → Other

Devisee in trust.

1829 [EA] - 1834 [LA] → Mortgagee-in-Possession

Shown as simply registered on behalf of Adam Cliff with Thomas and Milham Hartley in 1829, but as mortgagee-in-possession in 1832 with Thomas and Milham Hartley, and subsequently co-awardee of the compensation


Legacies Summary

Commercial (2)

Name partner
Adam Cliff
West India merchant  
 
Name partner
Thompson and Cliff
West India and General Merchant  
 

Imperial (1)

Other
Cape of Good Hope 
notes →
Hi son Edward Adam Cliff died King William's Town Cape Colony South Africa 13/12/1874....

Relationships (2)

Father → Son
Business partners
Notes →
Adam Cliff was identified in the will of Thomas Pepper Thompson (proved 1823) as his...

Addresses (2)

Granville, Jersey, Channel Islands
Richmond House, Walton-on-the-Hill, West Derby, Lancashire, North-west England, England