The Life of Arthur Harold Clarke …. a photographer of Chorlton-cum-Hardy..by Tony Goulding

Typical example of my grandfather's work, with distinctive "AHC" number

Arthur Harold Clarke’s photographs and postcards continue to periodically appear on this blog.

As this man was also my maternal grandfather, I thought it was time I expanded his biography.

  

Arthur was born in Redditch, Worcestershire on 8th February 1889.  

His father, William Thomas, was the son of a miller from Knossington, Leicestershire, and his wife Betsie (née Woodfield)

Engraved pocket watch given to Arthur by his parents

His mother’s uncle William Woodfield, owned a factory making needles and fishhooks, and was prominent in local government – a onetime chairman of the town’s Urban District Council. 

William Thomas had been a master grocer in nearby Stoke Prior; Bromsgrove later opened a photographer’s shop at 47, Evesham St. Redditch after a spell working as a clerk in his uncle-in-laws business.

 

Arthur was an only child and spent his childhood in fairly affluent and loving home as indicated by these inherited artifacts.

The watch, engraved A token of love to our dear boy

Engraved pocket watch given to Arthur Harold by his parents on his 7th birthday

The inscription reads” A Token of Love to our dear boy Arthur Harold on his seventh birthday”

 The back of the watch is engraved with his name A.H. Clarke.

A 7th Wedding Anniversary gift from Arthur’s father to his mother – an anthology of love poems and prose “The Bridal Bouquet” by Henry Southgate.

 “The Bridal Bouquet” by Henry Southgate.

The Title Page: -

William Thomas’s Dedication: -

(The “First Flower of Folio 303” referred to is a long piece of prose entitled “The Good Wife Defined” 

It begins with the statement "A well-nurtured woman is a man’s best and truest friend” and includes the following piece of matrimonial advice 

‘You are not to proceed without her knowledge or advice. In many cases her opinion may be preferable to your own”

At the time of the 1911 census my grandfather was living at 84, Ickleford Road, Hitchin, Hertfordshire newly married to his first wife, Ellen Maries and working as a photographer’s assistant.

The couple soon returned to Redditch, however, as Ellen bore a son Eric Cyril on 27th November 1913 at 16, Melen Street of that town. This birth was followed by that of a daughter Cecilia Elaine on 25th September 1915.

The death of his infant son   towards the end of 1914 may have put a strain on Arthur and Ellen’s relationship.

For whatever the reason the marriage broke down and Arthur Harold met my grandmother Nora Janet Ross.

Avoiding the resulting scandal, no doubt (it was the early 20th century!) they left the small town and moved first to Liverpool in which city my mother Mary Teresa was born on 28th May 1927 at 27 Granby Street.

On my mother’s birth certificate my grandfather’s occupation is given as “photographer’s assistant”

Soon after the birth of my mother the family relocated to 83, Clarence (1) Road Chorlton-cum-Hardy where my uncle Denis was born in 1929.

The 1930, s appear to see an upturn in his fortune as Arthur was at this time working for himself producing postcards, many of which have been used on this blog.  

He also produced other photographic material such as this book mark of Manchester’s (then new) Central Library and undertook other photography work

 

After his divorce from Ellen, Arthur Harold was finally able to marry Nora, my grandmother at the Manchester register office on 22nd April 1944 by which time he had ceased working as a photographer (the reason being unclear) and was employed as a clerk with the Inland Revenue.

He remained in this job until his death during November 1953.

Arthur Harold was buried on 2nd December in a common grave I 1626 of the Roman Catholic section of Manchester’s Southern Cemetery.

 For the final 10-15 years of his life he had resided in this house at 5, Keppel Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

 I make no apology for revisiting this man’s story as, perhaps because he had died shortly before my own appearance in 1954.

I have always seen him as a somewhat enigmatic figure, with his connection to the mystique of early 20th century photography and the ambiguity of his being a divorcee with two families who was also a staunch Roman Catholic convert who used to give public speeches promoting and/or defending Catholicism for The Catholic Truth Society.

Pictures; courtesy of Tony Goulding

NOTES

1) Now Claridge Road