Her father John Thomas, a farmer, died three months before she was born, and her mother Eliza Bates remarried in 1884.

[6] By 1944, Clifford and her remaining son Ogilvie had acquired about 40 old houses and converted them into smaller flats and apartments.

[8][9] A hearing took place in April 1944 before the Christchurch Land Sales Committee to consider their purchase of two further properties.

[2] In the 1960s Clifford was pursued by the Inland Revenue Department for failure to pay income tax over nine years.

It was a long-running and high-profile case, with the result that she was convicted and fined £100 for each year that a false return had been filed.