▶Date of birth:  (baptised) 24 April 1810        Place of birth: (baptised) Bedwardine, Worcestershire

▶Father:  John Clifton     Mother: Frances Hill

▶Spouse(s): George Arthur Barker     Date(s) of marriage:  19 March 1834     Place(s) of marriage: St Michael, Bedwardine, Worcester

▶Occupation: Mother and wife of musician and composer of popular songs

▶Lifestory: Jane Clifton was the daughter of a well-to-do Worcestershire landowner, and became the mistress of William Fitzhardinge, 1st Earl Fitzhardinge of Berkeley Castle (also known as Lord Segrave 1831-41). She was baptised in Bedwardine, Worcestershire, in 1810, the second daughter of John Clifton Esq., Deputy Registrar of the diocese of Worcester, of Bedwardine, and his wife Frances (née Hill); her father owned property in Cheltenham at the time of his death in 1833.

In 1834 Jane married Londoner George Arthur Barker, a musician, composer, and music teacher, at Bedwardine. After their marriage the couple moved from Worcester to Cheltenham (where they lived at 2 Pittville Parade, now 10 Evesham Road), and then to London, where they were recorded in the 1841 census living in Brompton Square with their children Fanny, aged six, Henry, aged three, and Charles, aged one.

Before and during their marriage George continued to enjoy a degree of popularity from his songs, although by the time of his death in 1876 he whad been forgotten by the public: “in 1844 there was no more popular lyric than “The White Squall”, and in 1848 we were all humming the plaintive air of “Mary Blane”. He wrote as “George Barker”, dropping his middle name (see Peter Gammond’s Oxford companion to popular music for a brief biography of Barker: 1812-76).

While her husband pursued his musical career in London, Jane began a liaison with Lord Fitzhardinge. After separating from her husband in 1844, she and her three young children settled in Acton Hall, Hamfallow, near Dursley and the Berkeley estate. A year later, when she was planning to return to Cheltenham, she began receiving anonymous letters urging her to reconsider her decision. Undeterred she came back to 2 Pittville Parade and received two further anonymous envelopes containing religious tracts, one of which was addressed to ‘Mrs Barker, Sabbath breaker and adulteress’. The communications were from a neighbour, the Revd. Disney Robinson, who lived with his wife at 5 Pittville Parade; like others in the town he was incensed by the immoral behaviour of Jane and her lover.

Jane took Mr Robinson to court for defamation of character; the case was heard in Gloucester in 1846 and in London in 1847. Although Robinson pleaded not guilty and claimed to have acted out of the best of motives, he was found guilty and had costs awarded against him.

In 1851 Lord Fitzhardinge bought Cambray Villa (Clarence Road), for Jane. She lived there with her family 1851-7, although it is clear that she also spent some time at Acton Hall, and in 1856 a directory still lists her also at 2 Pittville Parade. On his death in 1857 Lord Fitzhardinge left Jane and her children a small fortune in money, property (including Camden Villa and his nearby German Cottage), and privileges, and also his dog Prince (who came with a lifetime annuity of £25). She sold Camden Villa several months after his death. Soon after that Revd. and Mrs. Robinson left Cheltenham and settled in Henbury Hall, near Bristol.

Jane was living with her son Charles at 12 Onslow Gardens, London at the time of the 1861 census and she died there on 29 February 1864; her estate at death was valued at under £16,000. Her son Charles entered holy orders after her death, training at St Bees Theological College in Cumberland, becoming Curate of Chesterton, Staffordshire, serving as Domestic Chaplain to the Marquess of Queensberry, and also enrolling for a short while at Magdalene College, Cambridge, before dying early at the age of thirty-three. George Arthur Barker remarried in early 1865 to Louisa Ann Colston.

▶Moved to Pittville from:  (1) Worcester; (2) Dursley, Gloucestershire     Moved from Pittville to: (1) London; (2) London

▶Date of death:  29 February 1864      Place of death: 12 Onslow Gardens, London

▶Date of burial:         Place of burial:

▶Notes:  For the full story see: Alan Munden, ‘Was Jane Barker a Sabbath-breaker and adulteress?’ CLHS, Journal 37 (2021) 55-59; Bell’s Weekly Messenger 15 August 1846; Worcestershire Chronicle 25 March 1876      ID: 738

Contributor(s):  John Simpson/Alan Munden