Uncles, aunts and cousins

William had seven aunts and two uncles who were living in his lifetime. There was at least one more aunt (Elizabeth Anne Courtenay) who had died before he was born.

His grandfather Thomas Clack had two wives: firstly Ann Gibs who died in 1726, then Elizabeth Watts who died a widow in 1764. Thomas himself died in 1761. There were at least 6 children from the two marriages.

The notion that Thomas Clack pimped his daughters seems to have started as a spiteful insinuation from William Beckford. Among the ‘malicious rakings’ of his Liber Veritatis, Beckford wrote: ‘The newly acknowledged Earl of Devon’s Mother, Fanny Clack, owed her birth to a publican at Wallingford whose sign at least displayed the symbol of innocence, for it was the sign of the Lamb. Honest Tom Clack was blessed with several lovely daughters and being of a kind disposition was well known to indulge his customers, especially the young members of the neighbouring university with whatever they liked best that his home afforded.‘

Anna Eliza Bray was more respectful to the Clack family: ‘One of the Lords Courtenay (the father of the present Viscount I believe ) fell in love with a most beautiful and amiable girl, the daughter of an inn-keeper at one of the universities where he was a student. He married her; and extending his kindness towards her family, he brought her brother, Mr. Clack, up to the church, and gave him the living of Moreton. This gentleman was as well informed as he was deserving, and possessed a good library’.

William’s Courtenay grandparents also had 6 children. Lady Frances Courtenay died in 1761; sir William Courtenay became the first viscount Courtenay a few days before he died in 1764.

William’s aunts and uncles were:

  • Richard Clack 1720-1779: baptised 26 July 1720 at Wallingford (Berkshire); buried 14 December 1779 at Hereford (Herefordshire).
  • Sarah Clack 1728-1802: baptised 23 January 1728 at Wallingford (Berkshire); buried 31 January 1802 at Dorney (Buckinghamshire).
  • Ann Clack 1731-1789: baptised 15 May 1731 at Wallingford (Berkshire); buried 9 March 1789 at Powderham (Devon).
  • Elizabeth Clack 1732-1803: baptised 31 January 1732 at Wallingford (Berkshire); died 1 April 1803 at Alphington (Devon); buried 13 April 1803 at West Malling (Kent).
    • Frances Clack 1738-1782 (William’s mother): baptised 6 March 1738 at Wallingford (Berkshire); died 24/25 March 1782 at Westminster (Middlesex); buried 6 April 1782 at Powderham (Devon).
    • William Courtenay 1742-1788 (William’s father): born 30 October 1742; baptised 31 October 1742 at Westminster (Middlesex); died 14 December 1788 at Westminster (Middlesex); buried 27 December 1788 at Powderham (Devon).
  • Elizabeth Anne Courtenay 1745-1745: born 17 February 1745; baptised 20 February 1745 at Westminster (Middlesex); buried 27 February 1745 at Chelsea (Middlesex).
  • Thomas Clack 1745-1805: baptised 16 April 1745 at Wallingford (Berkshire); died 10 April 1805 at Kenn (Devon) where he was buried 15 April 1805.
  • Mary Courtenay 1746-1784: born 2 March 1746; baptised 3 March 1746 at Albury (Surrey); buried 26 February 1784 at Powderham (Devon).
  • Frances Courtenay 1748-1828: born 10 March 1748; baptised 31 March 1748 at Westminster (Middlesex); died 24 February 1828 at Oaken (Staffordshire); buried 3 March 1828 at Tettenhall (Staffordshire).
  • Lucy Courtenay 1749-1786: baptised 9 June 1749 at Albury (Surrey); buried 24 November 1786 at Woodcote (Shropshire).
  • Charlotte Courtenay 1751-1826: baptised 28 February 1751 at Powderham (Devon); died 17 May 1826; buried at St. Paul’s cathedral in London (England).

Marriages

Five of William’s aunts became and remained widows: his mother’s sisters Ann, Elizabeth and Sarah, and his father’s sisters Charlotte and Frances. Two of his aunts did not marry: his father’s sisters Elizabeth Anne (who died young) and Mary.

  • 1750 Elizabeth Clack married William Honywood (27 June at Bix, Oxfordshire); widowed when William died on 23 October 1764 at Town Malling (Kent).
  • 1752 Sarah Clack married Charles Palmer (2 December at London, within the Rules of the Fleet); widowed when Charles died in 1764 at Sumatra.
    • 1762 William’s parents Frances Clack and William Courtenay marry (7 May at Edinburgh, Scotland).
  • 1764 Ann Clack married Thomas Lock (20 September at Powderham, Devon); widowed in 1787.
  • 1770 Frances Courtenay married sir John Wrottesley (7 June at Westminster, Middlesex); widowed when John died on 23 April 1787 at Westminster (Middlesex).
  • 1772 Thomas Clack married Bridget Diana Stone (21 September at Powderham, Devon); she died before him on 12 December 1799.
  • 1775 Richard Clack married Martha Tudor (3 October at Monmouth, Wales); he died before his wife who remained a widow and was buried 20 November 1820 at Monmouth (Wales).
  • 1777 Lucy Courtenay married John Cotes (24 November at Putney, Surrey); she died before her husband who married again and died 24 August 1821 at Woodcote (Shropshire).
  • 1782 Charlotte Courtenay married lord Loughborough (Alexander Wedderburn, earl of Rosslyn from 1801) on 12 September at Ellastone (Staffordshire); widowed when the earl died on  2 January 1805 at Salt Hill (Buckinghamshire).

Cousins

William had 6 sets of cousins.

  1. Clack
    • Charlotte Bridget (1781-1835).
    • Edward Robert (1786-1855).
    • Elizabeth (1777-1859).
    • Frances Diana (1776-1854) married Richard Holland 9 December 1801 at Kenn (Devon).
    • Henry (1786-1786).
    • John (1784-1862).
    • Lucy Harriet (1791-1869) married Richard Ambler 17 October 1812 at Tormohun (Devon).
    • Mary Ann (1788-1864).
    • Richard (1778-1803).
    • Thomas (1774-1852) married Elizabeth Sadler 29 December 1795 at Westminster (Middlesex).
    • William Charles (1782-1865) married Ann Naylor 31 July 1810 at West Alvington (Devon).
  2. Cotes
    • Charlotte (1784-1859).
    • Lucy Elizabeth (1783-1835).
  3. Honywood
    • Annabella Christiana (1754-1808) maried Robert Gorges Dobyns Yate 25 July 1775 at Alphington (Devon).
    • Edward (1763-1812) married: (1) Sophia Long 21 July 1785 at Colchester (Essex); as a widower (2) Sarah Domett at Marylebone (Middlesex).
    • John (1756-1806) married his cousin Frances Courtenay 13 December 1779 at Powderham (Devon).
    • William (1759-1818) married Mary Drake Brockman 7 November 1786 at Marylebone (Middlesex).
  4. Lock(e)
    • Charles (1769-1800).
    • Frances (d. 1786).
    • Harriet (1773-1815) married Julius Drake Brockman 10 June 1793 at Elmstead (Kent).
    • John (1770-1837) married his cousin Matilda-Jane Courtenay 7 June 1800 at Westminster (Middlesex).
    • Thomas (1767-1846) married Aphra Langford 1 October 1792 in County Kerry (Ireland).
    • William Thomas (1765-1817) married Anne Margaret Drake Brockman 14 July 1789 at Marylebone (Middlesex).
  5. Palmer
    • Charles Harcourt (1760-1838) whose partner was his cousin Caroline Bonnin.
  6. Wrottesley
    • Caroline Gertrude (1775-1777).
    • Charles (1783-1848).
    • Charlotte (1779-1853) married: (1) John Helyar 14 January 1822 at Codsall (Staffordshire); as a widow (2) Henry Gordon 18 December 1826 at Walcot (Somerset).
    • Edward (1785-1814) married Ann Tringham 2 November 1812 at Gibraltar.
    • Frances (1773-1814).
    • Henry (1772-1825).
    • Hugh (1782-1830) married Emma Matthews 3 November 1811 at Jaunpur (India).
    • John (1771-1841) married: (1) Caroline Bennet 23 June 1795 at Marylebone (Middlesex); as a widower (2) Julia Conyers 19 May 1819 at Epping (Essex).
    • Louisa (1780-1842).

Richard and Martha Clack do not seem to have had any children. Charlotte and Alexander Wedderburn may have had a child who died as an infant but this is unlikely. (In 1793 some English newspapers carried a misleading report that ‘the Lady of the Right Hon. the Lord Chancellor’ had given birth on 2 October to a son, whereas Irish and Scottish newspapers referred to ‘the Lady of the Right Hon. the Lord Chancellor of Ireland’. The boy born in Ireland was named Richard Hobart Fitzgibbon and lived until 1864, dying as 3rd earl of Clare.)

William Beckford (1760-1844) is sometimes called a cousin of William’s but their family relationship was much more distant than that: Beckford was a cousin once removed of William Courtenay (1777-1859) who became earl of Devon in 1835.

In 1774 the reverend Henry Reginald Courtenay married lady Elizabeth Howard. He was a cousin of the second viscount Courtenay (their fathers were brothers); she was a cousin of William Beckford (her mother and his father were siblings). William Courtenay (1777-1859) was their eldest son. Like William Beckford and unlike the first three viscounts Courtenay, this William Courtenay and his descendants had among their ancestors Bathshua Beckford and her husband Peter Beckford who was Speaker of the Jamaican House of Assembly in the early 18th century.

Deaths and wills

The name of an aunt before her marriage is given in [square brackets].

  • 1745 Elizabeth Anne Courtenay
  • 1779 Richard Clack (will)
    • 1782 Frances [Clack] lady Courtenay
  • 1784 Mary Courtenay (will)
  • 1786 Lucy [Courtenay] Cotes
    • 1788 William lord Courtenay (will)
  • 1789 Ann [Clack] Lock (will)
  • 1802 Sarah [Clack] Palmer
  • 1803 Elizabeth [Clack] Honywood
  • 1805 Thomas Clack (will)
  • 1826 Charlotte [Courtenay] lady Rosslyn (will)
  • 1828 Frances [Courtenay] lady Wrottesley (will)

For information about the wills left by these people, with transcripts of a few of the shorter wills, visit the page Wills of other people 1: lists and Wills of other people 2: transcripts.

For death notices and obituaries, visit William’s obituaries with notices of other deaths.

Image

Richard Clack was organist at Hereford cathedral from 1754 to 1779; Thomas Clack attended the cathedral school from 1756 to 1763.

Page history

  • 2018 July 9: first published online.
  • 2020 April 2: reviewed; link for image added.
  • 2020 April 25 : Cousins first entries of birth and death dates added.
  • 2020 April 28: Cousins entries for Cotes births & deaths added.
  • 2020 May May: Cousins entries for Honywood births & deaths added.
  • 2020 May 23: Cousins entries for Wrottesley births & deaths added.
  • 2020 June 10: Cousins dates for Wedderburn child added.
  • 2021 May 4: Beckford’s insinuation about Thomas Clack added.
  • 2021 August 5: more information added in Marriages for Elizabeth Clack.
  • 2022 July 5: Anna Eliza Bray’s comments on the Clack family added.
  • 2023 November 12: Ann Gibs identified as the first wife of William’s grandfather Thomas Clack; Elizabeth Watts identified as William’s maternal grandmother.
  • 2024 February 25: Henry Clack added.
  • 2024 October 4: Aunts and uncles date of Mary Courtenay’s death corrected from 1783 to 1784.
  • 2025 December 10: Cousins reference to son of Charlotte Courtenay and Alexander Wedderburn amended.
  • 2025 December 19: date of Richard Clack’s birth amended from 1725-6 to 1720.
  • 2026 April 5: Cousins updated.
  • 2026 April 6: Marriages entry for Richard Clack amended; Deaths and wills date for Richard Clack corrected to 1779.
  • 2026 April 7-8: more information added on births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials including Richard Hobart Fitzgibbon.

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