Place Name
Bourchier Cleve (1715 – 1760) was a London pewter manufacturer and writer on finance who in 1755 commissioned Isaac Ware to build a house in Footscray, after pulling down the previous property that had once belonged to Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth I’s chief spymaster. The gardens of which are now Foots Cray Meadows. Kent historian Hasted later wrote: “Built after the model, though with some alterations, of the late Earl of Westmoreland’s seat at Mereworth.” Cleve was also a collector of fine art, and his collection was to become regarded as one of the finest private collections in the country featuring paintings by Rembrandt, Reubens, Van Dyke, Canaletto and Hans Holbein. His estate went to his only daughter, Ann, who married Sir George Yonge in 1767. Having an estate already, Sir George sold the house and estate to Benjamin Harenc on 14 April 1772 Cleve also gives his name to Cleeve Park Gardens.
