Judith Wolley (née Clive)

1. Fourth daughter, sixth child of Richard Clive of Styche Hall, Shropshire, a lawyer and MP, and his wife Rebecca nee Gaskell. Her eldest brother was Robert Clive 'of India'. Baptised in 1733 in St Bartholomew Exchange, London. Married Thomas Wolley of Winchester Street, London, in 1757.

2. Wolley was mortgagee of three estates in Dominica and St Vincent. In his will (proved in 1800) he left all his 'messuages, lands, negroes, plantations and hereditaments' on Dominica and St Vincent to his wife. He left monetary legacies of some £1500 to individuals mostly in the Midlands, and land in Shropshire to Judith.

3. Living at Southampton Row in 1804 and 1806, and again when she wrote her will in 1822. She was buried 14/02/1824 age 90 in Moreton-Say, Shropshire (the local church to Styche Hall).

4. In the will of Judith Wolley widow of Southampton Row Bloomsbury, proved 21/02/1824, she made no reference to 'slave-property' in the Caribbean or other real estate: either she must have sold these or, if her husband had been mortgagee-in-possession, the mortgages were repaid.

1. H.V. Bowen, 'Clive, Robert, first Baron Clive of Plassey', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online edition, 2004); Ancestry.com, London, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database online]; London Chronicle vol. 1 p. 167 (29/01/1757).

2. PROB 11/1336/170.

3. Ancestry.com, London, England, Land Tax Records, 1692-1932 [database online]; PROB 11/1682/169; Findmypast, Shropshire burials.

4. PROB 11/1682/169.

Portrait of Judith Wolley kindly provided by Caroline Wiggin.