Baron Clifford

Baron Clifford is a barony by writ of summons in the Peerage of England. It was created on 17 February 1628 by virtue of Henry Clifford's summons to Parliament (by writ). Upon his death in 1643, his daughter Elizabeth succeeded to the title (although she never made claim to it). Lady Elizabeth Clifford had married, in 1634, Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington and 2nd Earl of Cork, who was created Baron Clifford of Lanesborough in 1644 so as to provide him with an English peerage and a guaranteed seat in the House of Lords at Westminster.

The Clifford barony of 1628 creation was held by the Earls of Burlington and Cork until the death of the 3rd and last Earl of Burlington in 1753, when that earldom and the Clifford of Lanesborough barony (ie. 1644 creation) became extinct.

The Clifford barony then devolved upon Charlotte Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington, the wife of the future 4th Duke of Devonshire. Thus barony of Clifford was held by the Dukes of Devonshire until the death of William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire in 1858, when it fell into abeyance as it still remains.