Chapter 6
JOSEPH CLARK
Joseph, the third child of William Clark, was born on the 7th June,
1857, and he died on the 21st May, 1940.1 As he was only some four
years old at the time of the sinking of the "Onward" his
recollections of being held between his father's legs on the slanting
deck of the sinking ship may well have been assisted by hearsay.
However, the vivid accounts given by Joseph to his children
and his grandchildren of his being able to play marbles on
the deck of the "Pharamond" at times when it was
becalmed; of his being carried by his father through the
surf at the Durban Point after they had been brought ashore
from the "Pharamond" by rowboat; and of his having
to walk from the Point, fully dressed and in the blazing
heat through the sand all the way to lodgings in Durban Town,
are such that they could hardly have come from anything but
unforgettable personal recollection.
Joseph arrived at Durban when he was five and a half years
old.
When he was twenty-two Joseph married Anne Robinson, who
was born on the 21st of September, 1860, and whose parents
farmed near Mooi River, Natal. The marriage took place on
the 26th September, 1879, at the Wesleyan Church at Camperdown,
which little church, made of wood and iron, still stands
and can be seen on the northern side of the National Road.
Anne and her parents were Byrne settlers who arrived in Natal
during 1861 aboard the vessel "Cataract."2
Joseph's occupation was that of carpenter and builder, or
as they called a builder in those days, a mason. He is reputed
to have built several buildings in the centre of Durban,
mainly in the Point area, and he also built a few cottages
at Montclair which are still standing today.
In the belief that the Umgeni River was an insurmountable
barrier to the. development of Durban to its north, Joseph
invested his money in "God's good earth" close
to the Clairwood railway station that had been built on the
new railway line from Durban. He accordingly bought (probably
for considerably more than it would have cost him to purchase
the whole of the area subsequently developed by Durban North
Estates as Durban North) an area of approximately twelve
acres of land running along Montclair Road, Montclair. He
established his home on some three acres of land at the south
easterly corner of Montclair Road and Southwold Avenue, Montclair,
where he built a large double-storied home which he called "Grace
Villa" after his eldest child Grace. He surrounded his
home with a cavort hedge, which by the time of his death
was some seven foot high and which, until approximately a
year or so prior to his death, Joseph himself used to trim.
One of Joseph's purposes in having the hedge was to create
an impenetrable barrier to keep in the twenty or so Peattie
buck which he kept in his garden and orchard. The writer
remembers in particular Joseph's favourite buck, a duiker
named "Tinker"; the warnings not to bend down in
Tinker's visibility in case Tinker exercised his habit of
occasionally butting those bending down; and the salt that
was left out in the garden for Tinker and the other Peattie
to lick.
The Peattie were great fighters, and to protect them Joseph
kept their horns cut. They all had their names and would
answer to their names and would eat out of an extended hand.
One Peattie named "Gypsey" once escaped and shortly
thereafter Joseph saw her cross a bush path, called to her
and when she came to him picked her up and took her home.
Another pet that Joseph had was a gander called "Tom",
a real watch dog and armed with large wings he could deter
trespassers. Joseph loved birds and would barter sweets for
sling shots to protect them.
Joseph and Anne had five children. The first, Grace Jane
Isabella, was born on the 9th September, 1880 and died on
the 5th February, 1966. Grace qualified as teacher and married
John William Goodman (commonly known as Jack) on the 13th
January, 1909. Jack and Grace lived at Lydenburg and Jack
was elected, on more than one occasion, as the Mayor of Lydenburg
and as Provincial Councillor for the Lydenburg District.
During the Anglo Boer War Jack Goodman fought on the side
of the Boers. He died on the 6th April, 1955. Jack and Grace
were not blessed with any children.
Josephn and Anne
Clark
The second child was a boy, Reuben Clement, who was born
on the 5th day of November, 1882. Reuben's career was with
the Natal, and later the South African, Railways. He married
Isabella Paton Dougal on the 4th November, 1911. There are
three children of their marriage: Annabel Marjorie, born
on the 4th July 1913; Jean Holly, born on the 8th September,
1916; and Margaret Enid, born on the 24th July, 1921. Reuben
died, aged 84, on the 6th February, 1967.
The third child was a girl, Pearl Cherry, who was born on
the 1st September, 1886. She married her cousin, William
Thomas Clark, son of William, brother of Joseph. There were
three children of this marriage, Aubrey Desmond Garfield
(nicknamed Twiddie) born on the 16th November, 1907 who married
Noel Gray on the 1st October, 1938; Beryl Gertrude Garfield,
born on the 26th March, 1912, who married Alan Kenneth McFie;
and Kenneth Garfield, born on the 20th February, 1910, who
married Phyllis Whitcutt on the 27th June, 1936, and who
died on the 6th January, 1982. For further details in regard
to this portion of the family you are referred to Chapter
5, dealing with Joseph's elder brother William's branch of
the family. Pearl died aged 80 on the 2nd January, 1967.
The fourth child was Holly Gertrude, a girl born on the
26th October, 1889. She married George Firth, a chemist of
African Explosives and Chemical Industries, on the 13th September,
1911. There was one child of their marriage, a girl, Hillary
Fay. Holly died on the 6th December, 1960.
The fifth and last child was Leslie Royal, who was born
on the 6th July, 1897. Leslie, who at one time was in partnership
with William ("W.T.") Clark, Pearl's husband, in
the Durban law firm of Clark and Clark qualified as an attorney
and advocate. He married Edith Gertrude Ducray on the 20th
day of June 1928. There was one child of their marriage,
a boy, Robin Royal, who was born on the 19th December, 1933.
Leslie died aged only 43 on the 9th July, 1940 following
a sudden coronary thrombosis.
Robin "Nobby" Clark was one of the moving forces
behind this book, and the family research which preceded
it. He distinguished himself as an attorney in the firm of
Clark and Agar (successor to Clark and Clark), which subsequently
merged with Hillier and Co. in the late 60's to become Leandy,
Laroque and Partners. Nobby was a long serving member, and
the President, of the Council of The Incorporated Law Society
of Natal, the governing body for attorneys in Natal. He also
served as President of the Association of Law Societies of
South Africa, the national governing body of the attorney's
profession. Like his father, Nobby died suddenly of a coronary
thrombosis, on February 19, 1986. At the time of his death
Nobby was engaged in one of his favourite pastimes - running
in the canefields north of Durban with the "Hash House
Harriers" social running group.3Nobby is survived
by his wife Glenis (born McNee), and his children Catherine
Anderson (also an attorney), Kim, and Robin Leslie junior.
I This chapter was almost entirely written by the late
Robin "Nobby" Clark,
and I acknowledge his contribution with gratitude. My only
additions are the footnotes, and the comments about some
of Nobby's achievements - which he was too modest to include
in his original draft.
2 I have left this sentence as it was written by Nobby
Clark, although his information is not correct in all respects.
There was no Byrne ship named "Cataract". John
Clark, Natal Settler Agent: The Career of John Moreland.
at 211(A.A.Balkema, Cape Town, 1972) The vessel on which
the Robinson family arrived was probably the "Cataraqui",
which arrived in November 1861. Id. That vessel carried farmworkers
and artisans recruited in Yorkshire by Moreland, Byrne's
agent, and this may account for the confusion with the Byrne
Emigration Scheme.
3 The "Hash House
Harriers" is a group of social
runners which meets each week, after working hours, for
a 5 to 10 km. run - preferably in the canefields north
of Durban. The runs were always followed by drinks, snacks
and banter. Nobby was at one time the "Grand Master" of
this organisation - to which he was kind enough to introduce
the writer as a member. Nobby's ashes were scattered
besides a cane track on the route of a regular "HHH" run,
just south of what was formerly the Head Office of the
Hullett Group, on Umhlanga Rocks Drive, and is now the
Head Office of Tongaat-Hullett Sugar.
back to top
