Box 1: Correspondence, various, letters to and from Henry Clifford and William Clifford, 1821-1866; folder relating to Clifford family history, contains transcripts to correspondence (1821-1866); copy of 'Steamship Great Eastern- July 1866, being a cableistic and Eastern extravaganza' by N. A. Woods and J. C. Parkinson; a copy of 'The Atlantic Telegraph' in 1865; annotated printed book entitled 'The Atlantic Telegraph' by W. H. Russell.

Box 2: souvenir documents; envelope containing invitations and agreements; journals, accounts, reports: including the Cannings report on the Atlantic cable, 22 August 1865; copies of souvenir documents; 47 letters to Henry Clifford; various letters to Henry Clifford, 1881-1905; copies of photographs; souvenir documents including two mounted photographs; photographs of a painting; manuscript script for 'Alkali: Court Physician, Great Eastern.'

Box 3: books and diaries: Clifford's diaries 1880-1881 and 1883-1885; August to December 1867 and until April 1868; 16 July 1869 to 4 March 1870; 1877; 1878; bound manuscript concerning 'my first cable expedition, 29 April 1870; bound manuscript paper entitled 'Something about Telegraph Cables' read by Harold Gibson, Vice-President of Hornsea Mutual Improvement Society; cable figures/calculations book circa 1872; book of sketches/diagrams of a 'new roof over Morden Wharf' circa January 1869; printed book entitled, 'The Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company Limited' dated 16 June 1903, presented by The Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company Ltd. to their Gutta Percha Works, Wharf Road. City Road, London; printed book entitled, 'The Atlantic Telegraph: A Descriptive History' published by the directors of the company in July 1857.

The collection also includes some of the papers of Harold Gibson (1846-1920). Please contact archive staff for more information about ordering from this collection.

Administrative / biographical background
Clifford began his career as an engineering apprentice at Aberdeen in 1841 with William Simpson and Co. He then entered into partnership with Thomas Brown and Edward Gibson at Hull in 1844. Subsequently, he moved to London where he declared his profession as engineer in 1851. It was at London, late in the year of 1856, where he was introduced to the Altantic Cable Project through his connection with Charles Bright, becoming an engineer on all five of the cable-laying expeditions between 1857 and 1866. Clifford gained experise attending and supervising the paying-out machinery. The first cable-laying expedition in August 1857 was a failure; of the two in 1858, the first had to be abandoned due to storms, which began on 10 June 1858. Clifford produced a drawing of the AGAMEMNON in the storm which served the basis of a wood-cut for appearance in the ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS in the same year. The second of the expeditions of 1858 was a complete success, which began on 17 July 1858, with Clifford assisting Charles Bright, again in the AGAMEMNON. The cable was spliced mid-Atlantic and the NIAGARA steamed with the cable for Newfoundland and the AGAMEMNON for Ireland. In addition to being a complete and expert engineer for the cable-laying expeditions, Clifford was also an able and talented maritime artist, who took the opportunity, when time permitted, to make drawings of ships and scenery whilst at sea. Several of his oil paintings reside in the museums' collections. In 1861, he was engineer on the Malta and Alexandria expedition, assisting Samuel Canning in the MALACCA; William Whitehouse was also involved in this cable expedition. In 1862, Clifford was engineer for laying the Lowestoft to Zandvoort cable in CS HAWTHORNS. Design of the paying-out machinery for the GREAT EASTERN was largely attributed to Clifford and was put into practice in the 1865 expedition; which ended in failure: the cable broke and could not be recovered after several attempts. The 1866 expedition attempt in the GREAT EASTERN was a complete success and Clifford painted several views of the ship engaged in cable-laying. In 1869 Canning and Clifford were engineers in the GREAT EASTERN for the French Atlantic cable expedition.