▶Date of birth:  1Q 1888 (baptised 12 February 1888)        Place of birth: Ilfracombe, Devon

▶Father:  James Clark     Mother:  Rebecca Annie Slator

▶Spouse(s):  Doreen Hilda Pearce-Edgcumbe    Date(s) of marriage:  30 June 1937     Place(s) of marriage: Woolstone Parish Church, Cheltenham

▶Occupation: Clergyman (Free Church minister, Anglican)

▶Lifestory: Henry Thomas Clark entered the Free Church before he was ordained in the Arglican Church; he served at St Paul’s, Cheltenham from the late 1920s. Clark was born in Ilfracombe, Devon, in 1888, the only son of James Clark, (formerly RN) coachman and domestic servant, and later postman, of Ilfracombe, and his wife Rebecca Annie (née Slator), a lodging-house keeper, born in Dublin. He was educated in Ilfracombe; the family house was burnt down in a “great fire” of 1896. At the time of the 1901 census lived with his parents and two sisters, and worked as an Errand Boy.

Wishing to pursue a life in the Church, he was trained in Ilfracombe under the Revd. F. G. Walker, Incumbent of Ilfracombe, of Christ Church, Cambridge. In 1910 he was ordained into the Diaconate of the evangelical Free Church of England, “having passed the qualifying examinations”, by the Bishop Primus of the Free Church, and was called to the pastorate of St Stephen’s Church, in Middlesborough, as a clergyman in the evangelical Free Church (whose ministers were chosen by the congregation).

Clark was known for his strong organisational skills, and “being still a young man, [was] possessed of a physique which suggest[ed] a big capacity for hard work. He [was] intensely spiritual, and in sermons, speeches, and ordinary conversation he [kept] well to the front the strong evangelical note of the Wesleys”. In 1912 he was invited to become the Resident Pastor of the John Knowles’ Memorial Free Church of England, at Hoyland in South Yorkshire.

After the outbreak of war he apparently matriculated at Fitzwilliam Hall, Cambridge, to study on an Arts course. But while still retaining his post at Hoyland he agreed in 1915 to spend some of his time at the Sheffield Munition Works, apparently as part of the Army Reserve (though he was invalided out of the Army in 1916).

In 1920 he left his work at Hoyland and continued his ministry in the Free Church at Emmanuel Church, Morecambe (where he was noted for his prowess at golf), and by 1922 had become Diocesan Secretary. He continued in Morecambe until 1926, when he changed course and took holy orders in the Established Church of England, where he was ordained Deacon  in 1926, and Priest (both Sheffield) in 1927; in 1927 the Free Church united with the Reformed Episcopal Church. In 1926 he was licensed Curate of St Bartholomew’s, Sheffield. While in Sheffield he was particularly known for encouraging the police to attend divine services, and his church came to be known as the “Bobbies’ Church”.

He left Sheffield in 1929 to become Senior Curate of St Paul’s, Cheltenham 1929-30 (he had previously served under the Vicar of St Paul’s, Cheltenham, the Revd. R. W. Bellerby, in Sheffield); in 1930 he was listed as living at St Paul’s vicarage, 31 Clarence Square (now Clarence Villa) in Pittville.

In 1930 he moved to St Paul’s, Birkenhead as their new Vicar; in Birkenhead he was closely associated with the young people of the city, starting a Girl Guide company and a Youth Fellowship movement. He took part in the Merseyside Crusade in 1932, and sat on the Birkenhead Public Assistance Committee 1933-4. In 1936 he became Rector of St Peter’s, Chester, and was known to taking the Church to the people, and enlarging his congregation significantly. He married Doreen Hilda, only daughter of J. Aubrey Pearce-Edgcumbe CMG, CBE, MA, and Director of the Department of Overseas Trade in London, in 1937; the service was conducted by his friend the Revd. F. G. Walker and the couple left afterwards for “a motoring holiday in Cornwall”.

In 1941 he made his final change, when he was installed as Vicar of Great Sankey, Warrington. A keen Freemason, in 1946 he founded the Chester Lodge (St Peter’s), and also became known as the “Padre of the Chester Football Club”, as well as being an enthusiastic golfer. Clark died at Great Sankey Vicarage in late 1946, at the age of fifty-eight.

▶Moved to Pittville from: Sheffield       Moved from Pittville to: Birkenherad

▶Date of death:  21 December 1946      Place of death: Great Sankey Vicarage, Warrington

▶Date of burial:         Place of burial:

▶Notes: Penistone, Stockbridge and Hoyland Express 11 January 1913; Cheshire Observer 28 December 1946      ID: 16628

Contributor(s):  John Simpson/Alan Munden