1772 to 1831

Robert Clutterbuck of Watford, 1772-1831: county historian and topographer

Sarah, daughter of Robert Thurgood of Baldock., married Thomas Clutterbuck, and by her father's will dated 26 March 1774 inherited the manor of Hinxworth. On her death in 1788, by the terms of the will, it descended to her son Robert Clutterbuck, the historian. The Clutterbucks as well as being landowners, were also brewers - therefore Clutterbuck was able to spend his twenties as a man of means and leisure, journeying through Great Britain and recording his travels in diaries.

Little has been written of the life and work of Robert Clutterbuck whose 'History and Antiquities of the County of Hertford' in three volumes was published between 1815-1827. This could possibly be due to the fact that his extensive collection of papers on the compilation of his great work on the county was not discovered until the opening of a lead-lined box in a Harpenden bank vault.

At Cardiff, Glamorganshire, on the 11 January 1798 Robert Clutterbuck Esq. of Watford, Hertfordshire, was married to Miss Marianne Capper, eldest daughter of Colonel James Capper of Cathays, near Cardiff, by whom he had a son, also Robert, who succeeded him. This marriage was reported in the Gentleman's Magazine.

Robert Clutterbuck is buried in the churchyard in the church of St Mary in Watford.