The story of this branch of the Clarke family is at its most certain from the time of Joseph Clarke (1738?-1792), attorney of Garstang. From his apprenticeship in 1754, the continuity of historical / documentary evidence is firm. Of his origins we must be less certain, but it is nevertheless possible to construct a fair  interpretation of the facts.

Inland Revenue records reveal that on 16 September 1754, Joseph was apprenticed to Edward Wall, attorney of "Carrhouse" (IR 1/52, folio 78) . While there are numerous possible sites for "Carrhouse" (or Carr House) - the most likely of which are at Bispham, on the coast west of Garstang, and at Bretherton, south of Preston - we know that Edward Wall (d.1769) was a member of a noted legal family based in Preston (Fishwick, Preston, pp.31, 242). For an indenture of �40 (on which the government duty was paid on 4 Feb 1755), Joseph would have received 5 years traning as an articled clerk in the Wall establishment.

But where did Joseph come from?  Given his association with Preston and Garstang, the search for his origins should commence here. There was in fact a Joseph Clark baptised at St John's, Preston, in 1718, son of Thomas, but this is too early and would have put him at 36 years of age when apprenticed. Garstang seems equally unlikely, as there is no record of a Joseph Clark/e in the baptismal registers, and the family name Clarke is barely represented in the parish.

There is, however, some evidence that Joseph Clarke might have been in Garstang in 1745. In 1916, Joseph's great-grandson, Samuel Leach (1829-1923), set down memoirs of his family and early life. He recorded a story told by his grandfather Joseph Clarke Jnr (1761-1840), of the

"Scotch raiders with Prince Charlie in the year 1745, who spent the night in Garstang on their way to Preston, and were billeted on my great-grandfather, and on being served with huge apple pasties emptied the contents and then sent them back 'to have the wa's filled up again." (Leach, pp.8-9)

Interesting as this story is, it is problematic. If Joseph was not apprenticed until 1754, presumably in his teens, he would have been too young to have had soldiers billeted on him in 1745. Could it have been his father who had to endure the Scots under his roof? Possibly - but this would have been Samuel Leach's great-great-grandfather, and there is no confirmation of his existence in the Garstang parish registers. Perhaps this tale refers to Samuel's other great-grandfather on the Clarke side, Thomas Bell (d.1799), whose family were long-established in Garstang, but again, Thomas would have been too young in 1745. The most we can say of Samuel Leach's testimony is that it may suggest that the Clarkes were in Garstang in late 1745, but clearly they did not originate there.

In order to trace Joseph's origins, therefore, we must search further afield. Assuming that he would have been a teenager when apprenticed, we should be looking for a baptism around the years 1735-1741. Unfortunately, the IR apprenticeship records rarely contain the name of apprentice's father after 1752. A scan of North Lancashire parish registers (supplemented by the IGI) reveals that the name Joseph Clark/e was relatively uncommon. The only likely candidate was baptised on 17 Sept 1738 at St Michael's, Cockerham, son of Robert and Martha Clarke of Thurnham, within the parish of Cockerham, where the name Clark/e is also strongly represented.  Naming patterns reinforce this identification - Joseph named his first son Robert and his second daughter Martha. The few other baptisms of a Joseph Clarke across North Lancashire fall within the period 1706-1723 - certainly too early - and lack confirmation from naming patterns.

If this is the correct Joseph, the timing of his apprenticeship and later marriage fall into place rather neatly. He would have been apprenticed just after his sixteenth birthday and married a few weeks after the end of his indenture, which coincided with his twenty-first birthday.  One can perhaps imagine the young, betrothed couple waiting patiently until the groom finished his education and achieved his majority to begin their married life together. Joseph signed a marriage bond on 11 Oct 1759, being described as "of full age", for his marriage to Alice Lord (1731-1800),  and the co-signatory was John Dickinson, draper of Preston. The wedding took place the following day at St John's, Preston.

The evidence, therefore, seems to strongly suggest that Joseph Clarke originally came from Thurnham. Split between the the parishes of Cockerham and Lancaster, and home to the Catholic Dalton family, Thurnham was a small village numbering several hundred inhabitants.

Cockerham Parish Church

His father was Robert Clarke (1686?-1743), yeoman farmer and husbandman. While a later marriage bond suggests 1697-1698 for his birth, the only likely candidate in parish records is Robert, baptised on 4 April 1686 at St Michael's, Cockerham, probably the son of John Clarke of Thurnham (d.1724). John appears to have been raising a family from the 1680s, and it may well be him who is named in the Lancashire Association Oath Rolls of 1696 (Gandy, pp.57-58). Twenty-eight other men in Thurnham took the oath of allegiance to the Protestant Crown, including Robert Clark (d.1711?), possibly a brother or cousin of John. John's will is the main source of information about him : dated 30 Sept 1720,  he described himself as "something infirm of body" but lived until 1724. Robert was bequeathed most of the estate, including a messuage/tenement/barn in Thurnham ; Thomas Hodshon of Caton, married to John's daughter Ann in 1719, was left 5 shillings ;  and two grandchildren received 5 shillings each.

John's parentage is not yet known, and more research is required to piece together the history of the Clarke family in Thurnham/Cockerham, but in the meantime some general remarks can be made. At this period there was certainly a fair number of the family in Thurnham : the Cockerham parish registers record Clarke events here pretty steadily from 1670, with two isolated references in 1647 and 1654, and some earlier references to a family of Robert Clarke in 1595-1625. Wills and administrations for the family similarly date from 1670.

The records almost give the impression of the family quite suddenly appearing in Thurnham in 1670, but it is worth noting that nearly all of the Clarke events between 1670 and 1680 were burials of older people who would surely have been living there for some time, e.g "widdow" Clarke, buried 4 April 1672 ; John Clarke "senr", buried 12 Oct 1670 ; Henry Clarke, buried 10 Jan 1674, who we know from his will had adult nephews and nieces. There are in fact so many adult deaths in the family in this period (including 3 in Oct 1670, 1 in 1672, 1 in 1674, 1 in 1676), that one wonders if some infectious disease was responsible.

The puzzle here is that the earlier life of these older inhabitants of Thurnham is not readily discernible in the Cockerham parish registers or surviving wills. Gaps and inconsistencies make it difficult to push the search for the family's origins back any further, so for the moment all one can say is that while they may have lived in Thurnham for some time before 1670, the available evidence does suggest that the Clarke family probably originated somewhere else.

The family would have nevetheless been established at Thurnham for over 60 years when Joseph Clarke's father was raising his own family. Robert is known to have married twice. His frst wife's name is not known but they had 4 children in the period 1722-1728 : John, William, Robert and Thomas, all baptised at Cockerham.

Robert remarried in 1738, to Martha Townson (also of Thurnham). The marriage bond of 17 July 1738 names Robert Clarke as a husbandman of Thurnham, "aged 40 years or thereabouts", "Mary [sic] Townson ... aged 36 years", and "William Silcock of Ashton ... yeoman" as bondsman. Six days later, on 23 July, Robert and Martha were married at St Michael's, Cockerham.

Garstang Parish Church

Barely 7 weeks then elapsed before the baptism on 17 Sept of the only child of this marriage, Joseph.  Unfortunately, Robert was to enjoy his new family for very few years - on his deathbed by 13 December 1743 (when he made his will), he died soon after and was buried at Cockerham on 1 Jan 1744. An inventory of his estate was finalised on 10 Jan 1744, the value coming to just over �75. The beneficiaries were John Clarke, son of the previous marriage, as well as Joseph and Martha.

The prospects of the young Joseph were now uncertain, but at this point in the story comes the mysterious but positive turn of events which led to Joseph's training as an attorney. Several Canadian descendants today preserve the memory that Joseph was left an orphan and was taken in by an uncle "Edisforth", governor of Lancaster Castle. This fits the facts and seems  plausible - a son was later given the middle name "Eidsforth", and a later godparent was a "Thomas Eidsforth". This act of charity set Joseph up for a comfortable life.

Samuel Leach's memoirs suggest that the family was in Garstang by Nov 1745, two years after Robert's death. It is not too difficult to imagine a scenario in which Joseph would have been sent down to Preston for his education, returning afterwards to his home  in Garstang.

Within a few months of their wedding in 1759, Joseph and Alice moved from Preston to Garstang, where they soon acquired a comfortable position in the town's political and social life.

Garstang boasted a weekly market and two annual fairs, comprising less than a thousand inhabitants (but many more livestock on fair days). On the main route north through Lancaster and on to Scotland, coaches rattled up and down the High Street and travellers stopped for refreshment and accommodation at the many inns. The town was part of the medieval manor of Garstang, owned from 1756 by the Keppel family, who retained property interests in the town as late as 1919.

In their new home, Joseph and Alice's first child Robert was born on 11 July 1760 and baptised on 3 Aug at St Helen's, the parish church of Garstang located at Churchtown, 1.5 miles out of Garstang proper. While Robert died in early 1761, they had a further 7 children over the period 1761-1778 : Joseph (1761-1840), Robert (1764-1797), Lawrence (1766-1788), Sarah (1768-1802), Anthony (1770- ?), Thomas Eidsforth (1773-1797), and Martha (1778-1791).

Joseph and his male descendants played a promiment role in Garstang local government. Within his first year of living there, Joseph was elected as a burgess of the town (20 Nov 1760). Under the terms of the 1680 charter of incorporation, there were 7 burgesses, elected for life, one of whom was elected annually to serve as bailiff. According to local historian Denis Tetlow, the town bailiff and burgesses principally looked after the weekly market and - after 1756 - the Grammar School. The job of burgess, Tetlow continues, "appears to have been something of a sinecure and an excuse to enjoy an occasional binge at the town's expense". (Tetlow, p.45). Joseph was elected as bailiff in 1761 to serve for the following year, and was chosen again in 1770 and 1777. The following table summarises the family's service as burgesses and bailiffs of Garstang.

Clarke Family in the Corporation of Garstang 1760 - 1884
 

NAME	ELECTION AS BURGESS	ELECTION AS BAILIFF
Joseph Clarke Snr (1738-92)	1760	1761, 1770, 1777
Joseph Clarke Jnr (1761-1840)	1781	1783, 1788, 1796, 1803, 1811, 1824
Robert Clarke (1764-1797)	1788	1792
Thomas Walker Clarke (ca.1795-1863) (son of Robert)	1820	1822, 1829, 1840, 1841, 1846, 1847, 1849, 1854, 1857, 1860

NOTES - Fishwick, Garstang,  lists "Tho^s Clarke" as bailiff in 1770, 1777, and 1796 (p.93), but examination of the Corporation records, DDX 386/8 in the Lancs. Record Office, shows the name Joseph for these years. See also T. Cann Hughes, pp.164-77)

Garstang, from the Market Place, towards The Town Hall and Carrick House

Joseph practised as an attorney in Garstang, and his sons Joseph and Robert also became attorneys. The Palatinate of Lancaster records do not contain the affidavits of due execution of articles of clerkship, which according to an Act of Parliament in 1749 had to be presented to the court(s) in which attorneys were admitted to practice.  From 1785, however, annual certificates of admission were required, and these survive for Joseph Snr., 1785 - 1791, Joseph Jnr 1785-1797, and Robert, 1785-1792. Joseph Snr also took on his own apprentices, including John Cokell, for whom the duty was paid on 22 June 1769 (IR1/26 folio 51)

The Clarke family  lived in a house in the Market Place. In 1769, the chapel in the heart of Garstang was demolished due to dilapidation and a new chapel erected the following year a modest distance away in Chapel (later Church)  Street. In 1848 the chapel was dedicated to St Thomas and a burial ground was added ; in 1880 it became the parish church of Garstang. Joseph Clarke built a house on the former site of the chapel, taking out a 60 year lease from the manorial landlord on 1 May 1776 (see Hewitson, Our country churches, p. 478 & Greenall) In 1777, he insured the house for �350 with the Royal Exchange Insurance Company (LMA 1777 REX 4 003 28\11\79 ML). The house was inherited by his daughter Sarah in 1792. While it is not entirely clear today where the chapel originally was, Tetlow puts it on the site of the present day Carrick House (Tetlow, p.28) - presumably, therefore, this is the house which Joseph Clarke built.

Not surprisingly, Joseph had other property interests. In 1778, a property at Poulton made him eligible to serve as a juror (LRO QDF/2/7, 1778). In his will of 1790 (proved 1792), he detailed his properties as follows -

Property Interests of Joseph Clarke 1790/1792

Location	Type	Description
Garstang	Leasehold, 60 years	House, outhouses, garden etc
Garstang	Leasehold, 30 years	3 houses, barn, lands ("Wakefield's Tenement")
Garstang	Leasehold, 30 years	3 houses, barn, part of garden "known as the Pickle" (part of "Stuart's Tenement")
Claughton	Freehold?	Two allotments adjoining the highway, 7 acres
Ellel	Freehold?	Messuage & tenement, 2 1/2 acres
Claughton, Barnacre with Bonds, Inskip with Sowerby	Various	Messuages, lands, tenements, etc.

In addition to real property, Joseph's will casts some light on personal possessions. His library and "drafts in conveyancing" were left to sons Joseph and Robert. It was presumably from this library that at least one surviving 18th century family bible originated  (Oxford, John Baskett, 1728). This  ended up with the Lumb family, into which Joseph's daughter Sarah married in 1789, and details of it were published by G. D. Lumb in 1910  (Miscellanea , pp.319-320). It bears important inscriptions giving information on family events 1760-1802, including exact dates and times of Clarke births and deaths in Garstang, as well as the names of the "sponsors" (i.e. godparents) of Joseph Clarke's children. Another extant family bible (Oxford, John Baskett, 1727) contains information on family events 1761-1840 inscribed by Thomas Clarke (1788-1869) in the early 19th century. Perhaps this had been in Joseph Clarke's library, or more possibly Thomas acquired it himself for his own family bible. It later passed via his grand-daughter Emily Elizabeth (1864-1919) into the Kelly family of Walton-on-the-Hill and Aintree, Liverpool.

In the final years of his life, Joseph Clarke would have been able to look back on a life of some achievement. From his humble beginnings as son of a husbandman and then orphan  in Thurnham, he had risen to professional and  municipal status and a comfortable life in Garstang. At about 9.30 on the evening of Tuesday, 23 Oct 1792, aged 54 years, Joseph Clarke died. Two days later, on 25 Oct, he was buried at St Helen's, Churchtown. Perhaps as a symbolic statement of his aspirations and achievement, his executors had his will proved at the prerogative court of the archdiocese of York. They certified that the estate was valued at less than �1,000.

Joseph saw three of his eight children predecease him. Within ten years of his death, his wife and another three children had died. Some time in the 1790's his wife Alice moved back to the Rochdale area where her family came from - dying in Manchester on 14 Sept 1800 and buried in Rochdale on 17 Sept. The Clarke/Lumb bible dutifully notes these deaths - with especially gruesome and incredible reference to Thomas Eidsforth Clarke, who

"was lost at sea on or about the 22^d Sep^r 1797 in his return from the coast of Affrica to Jamaica ; it is imagined the slaves rose and devoured the ship's crew."

Garstang Chapel

Joseph Clarke Jnr., well established in Garstang, had a long life of stability and comfort. Presumably trained in law by his father, he also joined him among the burgesses at the tender age of 19 and later served as bailliff six times. Two years later he married into the Bell family, his young wife being Ann Bell (1764-1828), daughter of Thomas Bell (d.1799). Joseph and Ann had 11 children, 4 of whom died in infancy. Writing in 1916, Samuel Leach described Joseph Jnr as a solicitor "with a large practice amongst all the gentry for some distance around [i.e. Garstang], and their confidential legal adviser."  Baines' directory of 1824 lists Joseph as a "gentleman" residing in the Market Place, Garstang. After the death of his wife in 1828, however, Joseph may have moved to Preston to live with his children. He is not listed at Garstang in Pigot's directory for 1830, and Samuel Leach remembered him very well at their home in Winckley Square, Preston, where he would

"smoke his long clay pipe in our kitchen in an evening, not being allowed to smoke in a sitting room, and I think was glad of my company, I being a lively youngster of not more than six or seven."

Site of Thomas Clarke's shop, 150 Church St, Preston

Most members of the Clarke family built lives outside Garstang. The second son of Joseph Jnr & Ann, Thomas Clarke (1788-1869), provides a good example of a young man who moved away to make his fortune. Lured south to the commercial opportunities of Preston, Thomas was a linen and wool merchant there by 1817, possibly in partnership with his brother Samuel (1787-), and it was in this year that he married Jane Moore (1794-1830), from Whittington, Lancashire, who bore eight children before an early death in 1830. Within a few years, Thomas remarried - to Ann Noble (nee Rawlinson, 1791?-ca.1855), widow of John Noble of Garstang.

Thomas Clarke's son - Samuel James, & daughter Emily Elizabeth  (photographed ca 1871)

He served for many years as churchwarden [1833-1843], and on the old select vestry. He also was connected with the management of the Bible Society and other kindred associations, and was one of the founders of the Preston Gas Company, and he served as one of the auditors thereof for many years. Afterwards he was for many years the treasurer of the company, and on giving up that post  he was appointed one of the directors."  (Preston Guardian 10 April 1869)

Thomas's sister Isabella (1785-?) followed a similar path, via marriage to Thomas Leach (1782-1856). Thanks to the privately published  memoirs of her son Samuel, we have an evocative picture of their household. Thomas had been sent to Preston from Pendleton Hall, near Clitheroe, to make his way in the world, which he proceeded to do as a hosier and draper, later expanding to Manchester. Isabella and Thomas were married in 1815 and had 5 (possibly 6) children. In 1829, they lived in a house on the south side of Winckley Square, but in ca 1834, Thomas purchased a nearby plot of land on the same side of the square and built two houses. One was rented out and the family moved into the other, which was entered from Camden Place, running south off the square. From top to bottom, Samuel gives us a detailed picture of his home. Vast cellars contained a larder, laundry, coal, and wine (including port, sherry, and home-made wines such as raisin, cowslip, ginger, and elder). There were two living rooms on the ground floor, the drawing room on the right as you entered the house and the dining room on the left, each lit at night by two candles and on special occasions by four. Further down the passage was the kitchen, larder, and scullery. The first floor contained bedrooms for his sister and his parents - the latter alternated between two rooms according to the season and the spare room was used for guests, both of these boasting "fine old four-post beds with curtains to draw all round, and very cosy they looked." A bathroom and servants' room was also on this floor. The second floor comprised three bedrooms for the boys. Throughout the house were also many commodius store-rooms which fascinated the young Samuel and provided endless opportunities for hide and seek.

The house built for Thomas and Isabella Leach, Winckley Square, Preston

Of his parents we hear surprisingly little. Isabella is described as an attractive woman who even "in middle life and to old age kept a fresh complexion, with good features, and a winning smile and manners." We also learn that ca 1841, Thomas bought a horse and gig in which he took his wife - then not in good health - on afternoon trips into the countryside, and when he decided to devote less time to business after 1845, the couple travelled more extensively. Certainly they enjoyed a comfortable life - Thomas was a successful business man, and when he died in 1856, his estate was valued at almost �25,000.

The story of their cousins Lawrence (1788-1871), Thomas (ca. 1793-1863), Sarah (1790-1872) and Joseph ( 1793-1875) has similar themes. They lost their father Robert in 1797, when they were very young, and two of the boys took up the printing trade. Lawrence and Joseph moved to Preston - Thomas and Sarah remained based in Garstang.

After serving an apprenticeship to Thomas Walker, a printer in Church St., Preston, Lawrence worked in London (including compositorial work on the Times), then returned to Preston and took over management of the Walker printing and stationery business. From 1815, Lawrence set up his own business and later printed the Preston Sentinel (1821-1825). When this ceased, he began the long-lived Preston Pilot, which he published for 25 years at Bolton's Court (143 Church St), Preston, before handing the enterprise to his son Robert (1823-1897). Conservative in its politics, it probably reached its peak about 1850 (Hobbs pp50-51), and at the time of the 1851 census employed 13 men.

Samuel Leach spent time with Lawrence's family in his childhood and "often on Fridays saw the printing of the Saturday number [of the Pilot], which was done in the old hand presses". He printed and sold a wide range of items : non-fiction, literature, devotional works, broadsides, documents for the Assizes etc as well tickets for events, etc. See bibliography of known imprints. Lawrence was a warden of the printers in the trades processions at the Preston Guilds of 1822, 1842, and 1862. (see obituary in The Preston Guardian 16 Dec 1871)

143 Church St, Preston. Lawrence Clarke's Printing & Publishing Office

Grave of Lawrence Clarke, Preston Cemetery

He  often ended each day meeting friends in an "old-fashioned conversational club" which convened at the White Horse Inn or Red Lion Hotel. His fellow club members and his second wife having predeceased him, his obituary in the Preston Pilot paints a picture of Lawrence continuing to follow his old routine, spending an hour most evenings at the Red Lion before returning home to Chaddock Street. Lawrence died on 11 Dec 1871.   (See obituary Preston Guardian 16 Dec 1871)  His son Robert moved to Lytham  and continued to publish the Preston Pilot until 1888, when it was sold along with his other newspaper the  Lytham Times (Hobbs p.51).

Lawrence's  brother Thomas lived in Garstang but maintained a close working relationship. An 1824 directory has an entry for Thomas as "printer, binder, and circulating library, Market Place [Garstang]", and similar entries in later directories and censuses suggest he remained in this business right up to his death in 1863. In addition to his normal printing and bookselling activities, he co-edited the Preston Pilot for a period, often walking to Preston on Tuesdays and returning on Saturday morning with a bundle of newspapers. In the Chartist period he was shot at through the window of the Pilot office (Hobbs pp 50-51).  "Old Tommy Clarke", as he was called (Hewitson, Northward, p.64), was a burgess of Garstang from 1820 and served as bailiff 10 times, also being a well known figure at municipal banquets at Garstang Town Hall. His burial at St Helen's Garstang, was presided over by his stepson the Rev. Charles Aldis (See obit Preston Guardian August 15 1863).

Thomas' sister Sarah also chose to stay in Garstang, serving as postmistress ca 1824 to ca 1858. Never married, one has the impression (particularly from her will) of a prim and proper lady who was wedded to her job as postmistress, but who nevertheless doted on her nieces and nephews. Situated in the Market Place, she must have been a pillar of Garstang society and would surely have had her finger on the pulse of town life. Sarah retired from her postal role ca 1858, and it appears that her brother Thomas took it up ca 1861, after which her niece Mary Montague Clarke (1829-1908) carried out the duties ca 1864. By 1866, however, Sarah was the last of the Clarke family in Garstang. When she died in 1872, her bequests went to her brothers,  nephews and nieces, scattered across the North of England. Among her possessions were three pews in St Thomas' Chapel, the "family pew" and two others, which may well have been those owned by her grandfather  Joseph in the 18th century, but the family members who now inherited them never came back to live in Garstang. So the pews remained empty and within 2 years all the old closed seating was removed from the chapel and replaced with open benches (Greenall). Similarly empty was her house, where she left funereal instructions "that nothing shall be disturbed ... for fourteen days after my decease." While the dust gathered thus on her possessions and in the empty rooms of her home, Sarah received the "quiet and respectable" funeral she desired.

Grave of Mary Montague Clarke (d.1908)  St Helen's, Garstang.

Joseph was an upholsterer in Preston and later moved to Poulton le Fylde. Later in life he lost his sight. He married Anne, who died 11 June 1858 at their home in Breck St and was buried at St Thomas' Chapel, Garstang, as was Joseph himself after his death on 1 Oct 1875.

Members of the Clarke family  moved all over England and even further in some cases, building lives which seem for the most part to have been comfortable and prosperous. Garstang had been left behind - not to mention the even more distant time in Thurnham -  but their success had its origins in the good fortune of the ertswhile orphan Joseph Clarke, who thanks to the generosity of his uncle survived this potential disaster and went on to secure his own future and that of his descendants.

Samuel James Clarke 1827-1887
 
Samuel James Clarke - our ancestor - was the seventh child of Thomas Clarke (1788-1869).

One senses he was not as successful as his Father, working as a book keeper and clerk.

On 15 March 1852 he married Charlotte Reynolds a twenty year old Irish girl in Blackburn, Lancs. How they met is a mystery. Around this time they had a son called James Peter. They were caught up in the frenzy of the Victorian Gold Rush  and about ten weeks after marrying  boarded the Hibernia in Liverpool, bound for Melbourne where they arrived on 29 Sept 1852.

They settled in Geelong and had another three children : Samuel John (1854-1857), Margaret Jane (1855-1857) and Charles Edward (1858-1936).

In about 1859  it appears Samuel  and his wife Charlotte decided to go their separate ways, but no divorce has been found. Samuel disappears from view  until 1863 when back in the UK, but Charlotte had two children with a French baker named Charles Labat in 1860-1861 before  marrying him (bigamously) on 19 July 1863 in Ballarat. More children followed : Julia in 1863, Adolph in 1865, both born in Ballarat,  and Edouard born 1873 in France.

Samuel's movements are unclear : he was residing in Swansea, Wales when he married (bigamously) Mary Ann Morgan  in Lambeth, London on 6 May 1863. Their only child Emily Elizabeth was born 17 October 1864 in Dunvant Place, Swansea. By 1871 however  they lived at 5 Claylands Rd, Kennington, London. Emily was baptised as a five year old on 16 July 1871 at St Mark's, Kennington. Around this time the photograph above  was taken at the studio of Robert Bishop, 29 Kennignton Park Rd, about 15 minutes walk from the Clarke home.

There is a family story that a few years later they were visiting Westminster Abbey where they met Benjamin Kelly (1854-1918), a builder and contractor from Liverpool. Benjamin was greatly taken with the young Emily  and asked her father for her hand in marriage. Samuel was taken aback and said "But she's only 16!". Benjamin is reputed to have responded "And she's getting older every day!"  A few years nevertheless elapsed  and a few days after Emily turned 18 she married Benjamin, on 19 October 1882 at St Peter's, Walton. By this time the Clarke family lived in Walton, at 9 Stalmine Rd, then 3 Church Avenue.

On 5 Nov 1887 Samuel James Clarke died. His son in law Benjamin Kelly purchased a plot in Kirkdale Cemetery and a large granite monument was erected with the inscrioption " In memory of  Samuel James CLARKE,  died Novr. 5th 1887, aged 60 years."

Grave of Samuel James Clarke, Kirkdale Cemtery, Liverpool

Published Sources

T. Cann Hughes, 'Notes on the "Garstang Trust" and their records', Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, v.30 (1912), pp.164-77

 Alan Crosby, Preston (Britain in old photographs), Stroud, 1995

Henry Fishwick, History of the parish of Garstang, Manchester, 1878-79

Henry Fishwick, History of the parish of Preston, Rochdale, 1900

Wallace Gandy (ed.), Lancashire Association oath rolls, 1921, repr.London, 1982

R.G. Greenall & W.B. Porteus, Notes of the history of St. Thomas' Church, Garstang, 1993

T. Grocott, Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic eras, London, 1997

Anthony Hewitson, Our Country Churches and chapels, Preston, 1872?

Anthony Hewitson, Northward : historic, topographic, residential, and scenic gleanings, etc, between Preston and Lancaster, Preston, 1900

Hobbs, Andrew. Reading the local paper: Social and cultural functions of the local press in Preston, Lancashire, 1855-1900. A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Central Lancashire, November 2010

Samuel Leach, Old age reminiscences, Printed for private circulation, 1923

F.J. McLynn, The Jacobite Army in England : 1745, the final campaign, Edinburgh, 1983

Miscellanea genealogica et heraldica, v.3, 4th series, London, 1910

Catherine Rothwell, Around Garstang in old photographs, Stroud, 1995

Denis Tetlow, Peeps into Garstang's past, Garstang, 2001

Acknowledgements
Jane Hamby
Simeon Clarke
Staff of the Lancashire Record Office

Copyright 2024