Background
Clifton was a son of Sir John Clifton (d1593) of Barrington Court, Somerset, by his wife Anne Stanley, daughter of Thomas Stanley, 2nd Baron Monteagle (1507–1560). Sir John Clifton"s father was a London merchant, Sir William Clifton (d1564), who had purchased the manor of Barrington from Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Sir William Clifton was the son of Gervase Clifton of the Customs House, London, a younger son of Sir Gervase Clifton (d1508), Knight of the Bath (1494), of Clifton Hall, Nottingham, High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests in 1502, 14th in descent from the 11th century Alvaredus de Clifton, warden of Nottingham Castle "in the time of William Peverell, bastard son of William the Conqueror".
From Robert Clifton, the eldest son of Sir Gervase Clifton (d1508), were descended the Clifton baronets, which title was created in 1611.