(c.1766 - 1841), s. of James Clitherow of Boston Manor, Mx.; Ch.Ch. Oxf. 1783; All Souls Oxf. BCL 1791.
1789 - 90 [dep. London 30 Dec. 1788] Mont Cenis (25 Oct. 1789), Turin ( - 28 Nov. and 10 Dec.), Milan, Bologna, Florence (17 Dec. 1789 - 18 Jan. 1790), Siena, Rome (21 - 28 Jan.), Naples (Feb.), Rome (by 24 Feb. - 7 Apr.), Terni, Spoleto (Apr.), Florence (by 22 May - 20 Jun.), Ferrara, Venice (24 Jun.), Padua, Verona, Brescia, Milan ( - 6 Jul.) [Dover 15 Aug. 1790]
The journal of his tour (Clitherow jnl.MSS) is prefaced by the observation that every parent is to judge for his child: 'some prefer sending them abroad at an early Age with a tutor, others leave their Sons to themselves when they are able to shift and make their own observations: This latter plan I am fully convinced is the most eligible, and I am thoroughly sensible of the Advantage from having left England totally my own Master'. He was in France and Switzerland before entering Italy in October 1789. In Turin he heard that his friend Lascelles was in Geneva and he recrossed Mont Cenis to fetch him, returning immediately. From Turin they travelled through Milan and Bologna before arriving on 17 December in Florence where they stayed at Charles Hadfield's former establishment, 'ye best hotel in Italy'. For the next few weeks they saw the sights of Florence, Clitherow armed with La description de la Galerie Royale de Florence. He was delighted by the sight of the Cascine where he and Lascelles gave their farewell dinner party on 18 January. Proceeding via Siena, they arrived in Rome on 21 January 1790. Though they stayed only a week, they discovered 'several acquaintance and a great deal of Gaiety', attending an English ball or two and a conversazione given by Cardinal de Bernis. At Naples they were guided by the antiquary James Clark; they dined with Sir William Hamilton, visited Philipp Hackert's studio and watched a royal boar hunt - the boars being only tame pigs, and the sport of killing them 'by far the most cruel and unmanly amusement I ever was at'. They arrived back at Rome for the last three days of the Carnival and, when these were over, embarked on a strenuous six-week course of antiquities with James Byres. The only artist Clitherow records visiting was Canova, who was working on his monument to Clement XIII. They left Rome on 7 April, 'not a little glad to quit a Town where we had spent two Months, if I may be allowed to speak the truth, rather stupidly'.
Clitherow admitted that 'the satisfaction of having seen Rome' was very great but wished that 'the inhabitants were a little more civilised and ye Society upon a better footing'. They travelled on the Terni-Spoleto road to Florence; Terni alone, thought Clitherow, 'if there was no other Beauty to Attract the traveller, would in my own Opinion be sufficient recompense for the amazing Jolting and Jumbling he must go through'. In Florence Clitherow seems to have spent his time at the Villa di Petraia, admiring the view and the two beautiful Irish sisters to whom the Grand Duke had lent the villa for the summer. He also made two excursions to Leghorn (one with Lord Titchfield, Lascelles and Henry Clavering, the other with Mr and Mrs Sullivan). Lascelles was dining with Elizabeth Gibbes in Florence on 22 May.1 From Florence they went to Ferrara where they left their horses while they went by water to Venice and Padua. They left Italy through Verona, Brescia and Milan, taking the St Gothard pass to Lucerne.
1. Gibbes jnl.MSS.