Clifford, Sir Conyers (d. 1599), soldier and administrator, was the eldest son of George Clifford and Ursula Clifford (née Finch) of Bobbing Court, Kent. He distinguished himself under the command of the earl of Essex (qv) in the siege of Rouen (1591) and the Calais and Cadiz campaigns (1596); was knighted (1591); represented Pembroke in parliament (1593); and received a Cambridge MA (1594/5). When Sir Richard Bingham (qv) was suspended from the presidency of Connacht, Clifford became chief commissioner (2 December 1596), then president (4 September 1597) in his stead.
Chronically short of men, money, and supplies, he had to secure Connacht against the Mac William Burkes within, ‘Red’ Hugh O'Donnell (qv) without, and the remoter danger of Spanish invasion. He had some success in treating with Theobald Bourke (qv) and Brian Óg O'Rourke (qv), and in restoring shrieval authority. As the western pincer of government offensives into Ulster, however, he first had to make a fighting retreat from Ballyshannon (July 1597) and then was defeated and killed by O'Donnell's forces while trying to force a passage with tired troops through the Curlew mountains, Co. Roscommon (5 August 1599). He married Mary, daughter of Francis Southwell of Norfolk; they had two sons and a daughter.