George Clifton was an English collector of seaweed specimens, active in Australia.

Clifton was born in England and served in its Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, he emigrated to Australia in 1851. He returned in 1864, having served as a police officer, to become the Governor of the Portland

Portland (HM Prison)

HM Prison Portland is a male Young Offenders Institution, located in the village of The Grove , in Dorset, England. Portland YOI prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...

 and Dartmoor

Dartmoor (HM Prison)

HM Prison Dartmoor is a Category C men's prison, located in Princetown, high on Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. Its high granite walls dominate this area of the moor...

 prisons.

He was employed by the state of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 as superintendent of water police

Water police

Water police, also called harbour patrols, port police, marine/maritime police, nautical patrols, bay constables or river police, are police officers, usually a department of a larger police organisation, who patrol in water craft...

 at Fremantle

Fremantle, Western Australia

Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...

. Clifton assisted William Henry Harvey

William Henry Harvey

William Henry Harvey was an Irish botanist who specialised in algae.- Biography :William Henry Harvey was born at Summerville near Limerick, Ireland, in 1811, the youngest of 11 children. His father Joseph Massey Harvey, was a Quaker and prominent merchant...

's work on algae

Algae

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...

 of the region, and made use of his boat to make collections in the region. His contribution to Harvey's publication of Phycologia Australica

Phycologia Australica

Phycologia Australica, written by William Henry Harvey, is one of the most important works on phycology of the 19th century.The work, published in five separate volumes between 1858 and 1863, is the result of Harvey’s extensive collecting along the Australian shores during a three year sabbatical...

is especially noted throughput that work, volume 5 is prefaced with the remarks,

"To George Clifton, Esq., R.N., of Fremantle, Western Australia, whose name occurs so frequently throughout the volume and in the synopsis, I am indebted for some thousands of beautifully preserved specimens, including many species collected by no one else. His contributions commenced in 1854, whilst I was resident in Western Australia, and have been regularly continued at short intervals up to the present time (Sept., .1863). Three new genera, Cliftonaea, Bindera, and Encyothalia, besides many new species, prove the zeal and success with which Mr. Clifton has conducted his researches."

His name is commemorated by Harvey in the epithets of the genus Cliftonia (later Cliftonaea), and a new species Dasya cliftoni; his continued supply of material to the author saw Clifton honoured more than any other person in names of Australian algae species. Clifton was known to have corresponded with Ferdinand von Mueller

Ferdinand von Mueller

Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...

, but these letters are missing.