Jane, Lady Clifford

Lady Clifford's monument stands in the chapel of St Nicholas in Westminster Abbey. The black and white marble monument may be ascribed to sculptor John Bushnell, on stylistic grounds. The inscription is on two marble 'sheets of parchment' side by side. They were originally on opposite sides but were altered when the monument was moved in order to construct the Northumberland vault in 1776. The inscriptions read:

Here lies ye Right Honble. the Lady Jane Clifford, youngest daughter to William Duke of Somersett, grand daughter to Edward Earle of Hertford & great grand daughter to Edward Duke of Somersett etc. unkle to King Edward ye Sixth, Protector of his realmes & Governor of his royall person. She was married to ye Right Honble. Charles, Lord Clifford and Dungarvan, sonn & heire apparent to Richard Earle of Burlington in England & Cork in Ireland, Lord High Treasurer of Ireland & to Elizabeth his Countesse, sole daughter & heiress to Henry, late Earle of Cumberland, Lord Clifford etc. the last male of that noble family

Shee had issue five sonns & six daughters of whome two sonns and three daughters are now living. Shee lived an honr.[honour] to ye family shee was descended from, and the great comfort of that into which shee was married & died much lamented on ye 23d day of Novembr. in ye yeare 1679 aged 42 years, 4 months and 17 daies

Sculpted coats of arms are on the east and west sides, one now concealed by the adjacent monument.

She was born on 6th July 1637 and her mother was Frances (Devereux). Her husband Charles Boyle (1639-1694) son of the 1st Earl of Burlington and 2nd Earl of Cork, was a member of the House of Lords as Lord Clifford of Lanesborough and married Jane in 1661.

Jane's sister Frances, Countess of Southampton, was buried on 5th January 1681 but the location is not given in the burial register. She married firstly Richard, Viscount Molyneux, secondly Thomas Wriothesley 4th Earl of Southampton and lastly Conyers D'Arcy, later Earl of Holderness.