Lady Harriett Olive, 13th Baroness Windsor

Female 1797 - 1869  (72 years)


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  • Name Harriett Olive 
    Title Lady 
    Suffix 13th Baroness Windsor 
    Birth 30 Jul 1797  London, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2
    Gender Female 
    Death 9 Nov 1869  St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Burial Bromfield, Shropshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Person ID I49919  The Hennessee Family
    Last Modified 8 Nov 2017 

    Family The Honorable Robert Clive, MP 
    Marriage 0___ 1819  [1, 2
    Children 
     1. Lady Henrietta Sarah Clive
    Family ID F18466  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 30 Apr 2023 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 30 Jul 1797 - London, Middlesex, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 9 Nov 1869 - St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - - Bromfield, Shropshire, England Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Notes 
    • Harriet Windsor-Clive, Baroness Windsor (30 July 1797 – 9 November 1869)[1] was a landowner and wealthy benefactor in the Penarth and Cardiff area of South Wales. She is probably best known for developing Penarth Dock in competition with the Marquess of Bute's docks in Cardiff and for her charitable donations in the area. A daughter of the 5th Earl of Plymouth, she was granted the title 13th Baroness Windsor in 1855 after the deaths of her sister and brother.

      Predecessor Other Archer Windsor, Lord Windsor
      Successor Robert Windsor-Clive, The Lord Windsor
      Born 30 July 1797
      London
      Died 9 November 1869 (aged 72)
      St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex
      Buried 16 November 1869
      Bromfield, Shropshire
      Spouse(s) Hon. Robert Clive MP
      Father Other Hickman Windsor, Earl of Plymouth
      Mother Hon. Sarah Windsor (nâee Archer)

      Background

      Harriet Windsor was born on the 30 July 1797 in London[1] the third child and second daughter of Other Hickman Windsor, the Earl of Plymouth.[2] In 1819 she married Robert Henry Clive, a Member of Parliament for Ludlow, Shropshire. Clive died in 1854 and, in 1855 (after the death of her elder sister) Harriet Clive was granted the title 13th Baroness Windsor,[1] after the title had been held in abeyance since 1833. She legally changed her name to Harriet Windsor-Clive in November 1855.[1]

      After the sudden death of their brother the 6th Earl of Plymouth in 1833,[2] Harriet and her sister Maria had become co-heiresses of their father's estate, known as the Plymouth Estate. It covered the land in Glamorgan on which the town of Penarth and the Cardiff suburb of Grangetown are now built. It also included St Fagans Castle, the family's seat in the area.[3] With Harriet being the favourite sister, the bulk of the Plymouth Estate was left to her, including Hewell Grange in Worcestershire and St Fagans Castle. Previously living in Essex, Harriet moved to Cardiff while the St Fagans property was restored. When the restoration was complete, they lived at Hewell Grange but visited St Fagans frequently.[4]

      Business interests

      1882 map of Cardiff Harbour, with Penarth Dock to the south and the early streets of Grangetown shown on the left of the map
      Penarth Dock[edit]
      In 1855 Baroness Windsor formed the Penarth Harbour Company to develop a dock for Penarth on her land. She intended to compete with the new Cardiff Docks[3][5] which were being developed by the 2nd and 3rd Marquess of Bute. The docks, curving between Penarth Head and the River Ely, were completed by 1865. Baroness Windsor was due to perform the opening ceremony on 10 June 1865, but failed to turn up in time to meet the high tide. The chairman of the Taff Vale Railway (who were lessees of the dock) made the baroness's excuses and performed the ceremony.[5] Baroness Windsor petitioned (unsuccessfully) against the Bute Dock bills,[3] but the Penarth Docks were a success all the same exporting 900,000 tons of coal a year by 1870.[5]

      Grangetown

      In 1857 the Baroness obtained an Act to enable her to develop her lands on the Cardiff side of the River Ely. The new housing development was to be called The Grange,[6] and is now known as Grangetown. One of the earliest pubs, operating from the 1860s until 2008 on Penarth Road, was called The Baroness Windsor.[7]

      Philanthropy

      On her death, Baroness Windsor was praised her as "simple and unostentatious in her manner" and generous towards charitable causes, The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian saying "In every movement which tended to the well-being of those around her, her large subscriptions expressed her sympathy with them".[8]

      She paid for the construction of the Church of St Fagan, Trecynon near Aberdare (1852–53) then, when it burnt down in 1856, paid for its construction a second time.[9][10] She contributed towards the restoration of a number of churches in the Cardiff area, including St Mary’s Church at St Fagans, Radyr's St John the Baptist and the Cathedral at Llandaff.[11] The national schools at Aberdare and Penarth were also financed from her purse.[11]

      Death

      Harriett Windsor-Clive died in St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex on 9 November 1869, having been ill for a few months.[11] With her eldest son having died earlier the same year, her estate was passed to her infant grandson, Robert Windsor-Clive[3] who became The Baron Windsor and later the 1st Earl of Plymouth when the title was revived in 1905.

      She was buried on 16 November at the church of Bromfield, Shropshire, in a vault with her late husband and son. Shops were closed for part of the day in Bromsgrove, Ludlow and Redditch.[12] [2]

  • Sources 
    1. [S11762] "Edward Hussey Pedigree", Archaeologia Cantiana - Vol. 17 1878 page 42, SCOTNEY CASTLE By Edward Hussey, http://www.k.

    2. [S11768] "Harriet Windsor-Clive, 13th Baroness Windsor", Biography, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Windsor-Clive,_13th_Bar.