PREFACE
This booklet has been written to preserve a record of the arrival
in Natal in 1863, and the subsequent progress of, the family
of William Clark of Clark Road, Durban. That history is almost
entirely an oral one at present, and my modest objective
is to preserve, and thereby make available for the benefit
of present and future generations, the information about
William Clark's family and progeny which I have gathered
over the past twenty five years.
My information is incomplete in many respects, and possibly inaccurate
in others. However, rather than omit any branch of William's family
because of the inadequacy of data, I thought it preferable to include
a chapter on each of his children - and sometimes to include therein
information incapable of being verified. I have also included chapters
with information which I have discovered about other Clark relatives,
and ancestors, which I thought might be of interest. To any descendant
of any branch who feels that his or her branch has been inadequately
treated, or inaccurately portrayed, I offer my apologies - and the
excuse that the volume and accuracy of material published is generally
directly proportional to the input received from members of each of
those branches!
This booklet draws ints inspiration from a meeting which took place
in Durban in May 1970, in the law firm office of Leandy,
Laroque and Partners. At the time Robin "Nobby" Clark was
a senior partner in that firm, which was situated in what
was then known as the J.B.S. Building, at the corner of West
and Broad Streets. The meeting had been arranged as an interview
of the kind which any prospective attorney in Natal is required
to have with a member of the Law Society, before being permitted
to enter articles of clerkship. Nobby was at the time a member
of the Council of The Incorporated Law Society of Natal,
and I the prospective articled clerk. Our meeting was entirely
fortuitous - my prospective principal, J.A.N. "Tony" Biebuyck,
happened to have his offices in the JBS Building, and he
made the appointment with the closest Council member available.
Almost the first thing Nobby said to me after I was introduced to
him was "who was your great-grandfather". I could not tell
him at the time, but I proudly asserted that it was my great-great-grandfather
after whom Clark Road was named. Nobby said his family made
the same claim. That exchange eliminated any possibility
of discussion on matters of law, as we plunged into discussing
what we knew of our common ancestors. Our meeting was also
the beginning of a friendship and a collaboratin on family
research which has this booklet as one of its tangible results.
Over the next sixteen years, until Nobby's untimely death
in 1986, he and I worked sporadically but deliberately to
gather what we could of the history of the family of William
Clark. Our ultimate aim was to publish what we had comiled,
and thereby preserve what we had learned of the story of
how the family happened to be, and to become established,
in Natal.
In the early 1980's a rougher and less complete version of this booklet
was written and distributed to family members, in the hope
that it might prompt interest and recollection. In addition,
Nobby and I arranged, some years apart, two family gatherings
at the Durban High School Old Boys Club, to which we invited
all family members whom we were able to locate. To some extent
our activities did prompt interest and recollection, and
a lot of valuable information was obtained and preserved.
Nevertheless, most of our information came from a few valuable
sources, who deserve special mention.
Among this group are Victor and Cyriil Clark; Amelia "Minnie" Douglas
(nee' Clark); Myrtle Deetlifs (nee' Clark); and Clarice Catterall,
daughter of John Frank Clark III and great-granddaughter
of John Clark of York, Natal - the first familiy member to
settle in Natal. Clarice made available to us her father's
incredibly interesting papers containing the results of his
research into the John Clark branch of the family, while
the others spent many hours with me as I tape recorded their
recollections - therby providing the framework for what became
the family trees set out in appendices to this booklet. Clarice
also put me in touch with her cousin Hilary Battcock of Bournemouth,
England, who was also engaged in research into John Clark's
family - Hilary's mother was also a granddaughter of John
Clark. In that way Hilary became our resource in England,
and it is he who did the research into the pre-Natal history
of the family in Yorkshire which appears in Chapter 11. Sadly,
Hilary also died before he could see the completion of this
project.
The rest of the material for this booklet was derived from conversations
with other family members, old newspapers and newpaper cuttings,
the Natal Archives, cemetery headstones (primarily Durban's
West Street Cemetery), the Durban Local History Museum, The
Killie Campbell Museum, and whatever other sources we came
across. I have tried to be as accurate as possible, and to
cross check sources when available - at least to the extent
of having current members of the various branches of the
family check the proofs of the chapters on their respective
branches. As an aid to any future researcher I have quoted
my sources where these exist. In the nature of things, however,
there are bound to be errors, and for this I can do little
else but apologise in advance.
In addition to those specifically mentioned above, many other people
have contributed to this publication. It is not possible
to acknowledge all of those contributions here. However Nobby
Clark and HIlary Battcock deserve special mention, as each
contributed to the actual writing of the text of this booklet.
Nobby wrote the original version fo Chapter 6 - which appears
substantially as he wrote it. Hilary Battcock, unbeknown
to him, is the author of substantially all of Chapter 11,
since it was taken almost verbatim out of a letter which
he wrote to Nobby and me. To both Nobby and Hilary, therefore,
particular thanks are due. Particular thanks are also due
to Len Clark and the staff of the Home Journal Press in Durban,
without whose help this publication would - quite simply
- not have come into existence. Finally, I owe a great debt
of gratitude to my parents, George and Daphne Clark, who
assumed responsibility for doing or co-ordinating almost
all of the remaining research, and communication with family
members, after I moved from Durban to California in 1986.
My intention has been to record in the text what I have learned about
William Clark's family up to and including his great grandchildren.
However, the appended family trees contain information of
generations subsequent to the great grandchildren: I have
attempted to bring these as current as my information permitted.
I hope that this booklet will provide present and future generations
of William Clark's descendants with an interesting insight
into how a few simple Yorkshire folk came to Natal, put down
roots, and managed to make good - and in many cases, even
to prosper. Hopefully it might also provide some later Clark
with an incentive to complete the research - and thereby
finish the job which Nobby Clark and I conceived so many
years ago!
Stuart C. Clark
Lost Gatos, California
May, 1995.
