Clift, William (1775-1849)

Correspondence from and to Clift.

The fifteen letters are as follows:

Letter 1: From William Clift to W.R. Gilbert about receipts for drapery and wine (5 February 1827);

Letter 2: From William Clift to the Rev Dr William Buckland (1784-1856), geologist, describing the skeleton of a young female (31 December 1828);

Letter 3: From William Clift to George Brettingham Sowerby (1788-1854), conchologist, about some specimens (15 May 1830);

Letter 4: From William Clift to Edward Charlesworth about the prospectus of Charlesworth's proposed geological publication (8 June 1835);

Letter 5: From William Clift to Mr Bennett about his correcting Bennett's proofs (17 July 1835);

Letter 6: From William Clift to Professor John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861), botanist, Cambridge about the examination of fossil bones and other specimens (22 January 1836);

Letter 7: From William Clift to John Gibson about arranging a visit to Gibson to look at his fossil collection with Mr Lyell (24 July 1838);

Letter 8: From William Clift to John Quekett (1815-1861), histologist, about Quekett's manuscript on the Hunterian Memorial (18 May 1847);

Letters 9 & 10: To William Clift from R Nares about Nares' new surgical belt (4 March 1814 and 24 October 1814);

Letters 11 & 12: To William Clift from Joseph Barclay Pentland (29 January 1821 and 28 January 1833);

Letter 13: To William Clift from S. Arbring [?] about arrangements for a trip (13 July 1831);

Letter 14: To William Clift from Dr J. Worcester introducing bookseller J.H. Wilkins, Cambridge, America, to Clift (2 November 1832);

Letter 15: To William Clift from A.D. Roche about settling Clift's friend Mr Roche's affairs (undated);

This material was formerly held in the Western Manuscripts Department Autograph Letter sequence.

4 March 1814-18 May 1847

1 file

Purchased from: Sotheby's, London, February 1931 (acc.56320); Glendining, London, October 1933 (acc.67801); Desgranges, Paris, October 1935 (acc.69099), July 1936 (acc.69615); Mrs. Watson, Burnley, March 1945 (acc.72200), presumably once part of the Thomas Madden Stone autograph collection.

William Clift (1775-1849), museum curator and scientific illustrator, was born in Cornwall in 1775. Clift worked as apprentice to the surgeon John Hunter (1728-1793) from 1792 until Hunter's death in 1793. Hunter's will directed that his collection of anatomical preparations be offered for sale to parliament. Negotiations for sale lasted several years, 1793-1799, and during this time Clift was engaged to watch over the collections. After parliament purchased the collection in 1799, the College of Surgeons took charge of it and appointed Clift conservator of the Huntarian Museum, a position which he held until his retirement in 1842.

Clift became recognised within the scientific community for his work with and care for Hunter's collection and in 1823 he was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). He was also a fellow of the Geological Society. Clift also undertook work as an anatomical illustrator and published several papers.

Clift married Caroline Pope in 1801 and they had two children, William Home Clift (1803-1832) and Caroline Amelia Clift (1801-1873).

This information is taken from the Dictionary of National Biography where a full description of Clift's life and work can be found.