 |
| William Robinson Clark (1829-1912) |
(photo kindly supplied by the
Royal Society of Canada) |
|
This is the amazing story of William Robinson Clark. |
| |
| The story starts in the
early 1800s, when Rev.
James Clark, his father, was the schoolmaster at Daviot,
Aberdeenshire, and with his wife Catherine (nee Lyon)
had several children including William Robinson Clark
and David Clark. |
| |
The history
of David
Clark M.A., my paternal great grandfather, who became
a schoolmaster in the Black Country of the UK in the 1850s
and author of several educational books, was largely known
to me.
That their father was a Reverend, as well as the schoolmaster,
at Daviot was not. |
| |
| But of his
elder brother, William Robinson Clark born in 1829 I knew little other
than as a schoolboy and early family
member, aged 12, in the 1841 UK census. |
| |
| All this changed
the day the monumental (grave) inscriptions for Daviot
arrived from the Aberdeen and North-East Scotland Family
History Society (ANESFHS).
|
|
|
| |
That was the day everything changed
|
| The inscriptions, on the grave of his mother, Catherine Lyon, indicated
that
William Robinson Clark, M.A., was the Dean of Taunton and prebendary
of Wells
(not Wales as the copied inscriptions incorrectly indicated). |
| I established that he had been educated at the Grammar School in
Old Aberdeen, at King's College, Aberdeen
and later went to Hertford College, Oxford |
| |
| His father - Rev James Clark |
His mother - Catherine Lyon |
 |
 |
| Rev James Clark |
Catherine Lyon - wife of Rev. James Clark |
| [ info link ] |
[ Info link ] |
|
| © Copyright Aberdeenshire Museums Service |
>
|
Kings College, University of Aberdeen
|
 |
The University of Aberdeen was founded by William Elphinstone,
Bishop of Aberdeen in 1495 as Kings College.
He was awarded his MA at Aberdeen in 1848.
In April 1593 a second institute, Marischal College, was
founded and in 1858 the Universities of Scotland Act merged
Kings College and Marischal College. |
|
| |
| [In 2015 a William Robinson Clark Graduate Scholarship was awarded at the University of Aberdeen] |
| |
| After graduating from King's College Aberdeen M.A. with honours,
he later went to Hertford College, Oxford. |
|
Hertford College, Oxford
|
Foster's 'Alumni Oxonienses'
indicates that his B.A. was conferred by Oxford in 1864
and his MA in 1865.
Foster also notes that he was vicar of St Mary Magdalene,
Taunton, in 1859. |
| (information kindly supplied by Hertford College, Oxford) |
|
 |
| Hertford College, Oxford |
|
|
|
William Robinson Clark became a clergyman. |
He was the :-
Superintendent Minister, Independent Chapel, Lymington, Hampshire,
1854-1856,
Ordained in 1857,
Curate of St Matthias, Birmingham, 1857-1858 (closed 1948 after WW2 damage),
Curate of Taunton St Mary Magdalen between 1858-1859,
Dean of Taunton St Mary Magdalene and Prebendary of Wells Cathedral
1859-1880.
He was in London from 1880 on literary works.
He emigrated to Canada in 1882 and
became professor
of mental and moral philosophy at Trinity College, Toronto, Ontario
(from 1883 to 1908). |
|
|
St Matthias, Farm Street/Wheeler Street, Birmingham |
| History of Birmingham churches link |
| Built 1855, bomb damaged in WW2, closed in 1948, and demolished 1952. |
 |
| St Matthias, Birmingham |
|
Dean of Taunton and Prebendary of Wells
|
 |
| Taunton
- St Mary Magdalene |
 |
 |
St Mary Magdalene, Taunton
(photograph
2017) |
Vicars of St Mary Magdalene
(photograph 2017) |
|
 |
 |
Pulpit of St Mary Magdalene photograph
(photograph
2017) |
Baptism font of St Mary Magdalene photograph
(
photograph 2017) |
|
 |
 |
Vicarage where William Robinson Clark lived between c. 1860-1880
(photograph 2017) |
|
William Robinson Clark c.1860
(from the vicars pictures inside the church) |
|
|
| During his time at St Mary Magdalene William Robinson Clark was involved in making changes which included the replacement of the bells (see inscription below), installing a new pulpit and a new Bastism Font where many of his children born in Taunton were baptised. |
|
Bell inscription at Taunton St Mary Magdalene |
Tenor bell - inscription band: ANNO DOMINI. 1861. DURING THE REBUILDING
OF THE TOWER OF TAUNTON ST. MARY MAGDALENE. / GEORGE MEARS & CO OF LONDON
MADE ME FROM METAL OF THE OLD BELL WHICH WAS CAST IN 1647 AND BORE THIS
LEGEND
waist: COME WHEN I CALL TO SERVE GOD ALL / I SOUND TO BEID THE SICKE REPENT
IN HOPE OF LIFE WHEN BREATH IS SPENT
/ W.R. CLARK VICAR / FREDERICK MAY / F.W. TODD / HENRY LIDDON / CHURCH
WARDENS 1861
Bellhistorians:
The Bells of St Mary, Taunton by David Bryant
Also
see link |
|
Wells Cathedral |
|
|
| Pictures of Wells Cathedral |
 |
 |
Wells Cathedral
(photograph 2017) |
Quire (choir) and Prebendary area of Wells Cathedral
(photograph
2017) |
|
 |
Prebendary seats at Wells Cathedral
(photograph 2017) |
|
 |
Chapter House
(photpograph
2017) |
|
|
|
Emigrated to Canada
|
| In 1882, aged about 53, he emigrated to Canada and became the professor
of mental and moral philosophy at Trinity College, Toronto, Ontario
(from 1883 to 1908).
He was noted as a lecturer and preacher. He is also referred to as the Professor of Theology at Toronto. |
| |
| He was described as one of the foremost theologians in North America,
and
there are records of him delivering lectures in Michigan, USA. |
| |
He was awarded an Honoury
LL.D by the Hobart College - now part of the
Hobart
and William Smith University (HWS) - in the USA in 1888. |
 |
| (Original) Trinity College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Trinity
College, University of Toronto |
|
 |
| Rev. Professor William Robinson Clark |
|
|
I was advised by Stella that there is a huge portrait of William
Robinson Clark
hanging on the wall of one of the great halls at Trinity College,
University of Toronto.
I was able to see it in May 2013. |
 |
| |
Portrait of William Robinson Clark
picture Trinity College, Toronto 2013 |
|
|
Aauthor of many biographical and theological
works |
| He was the author of many biographical and theological
works (detailed below) (both in the UK and in Canada). |
| Many of these books (about 20) are held in The
British Library. (system number 004416350) and also in the Lambeth
Palace Library |
|
Royal Society of Canada
|
|
Dr. Clark became a Fellow of the Royal
Society of Canada. He was elected
in 1891 and later served as President of the Society from 1899 to
1900.
|
| |
Obituary
|
| Read his
obituary kindly supplied by the Royal Society of Canada. |
|
Empire Club of Canada
|
| Opening
address (no longer available) by the Rev. Professor William Clark, D.D., D.C.L., LL.D.,
delivered at the Weekly Luncheon of the Club, on December 3rd, 1903.
It seems that he was involved in the formation of the Empire Club,
as this address
pre-dates the official formation in 1905. |
| “I can quite understand that to many persons the formation
of a club of this kind will seem a very little thing,”
said the first luncheon speaker on December 3, 1903, a clergyman
and professor, William Clark. |
|
| President
of the Empire Club of Canada 1905-6 |
Address
by the President, Rev. Professor Clark, D.D., D.C.L.,
at the opening meeting of the Empire Club of Canada, on Oct. 12th,
1905.
Empire
Club of Canada site |
| See reference to Professor Clark in the history
of the Empire Club (page no longer available) and
in the book "The Best Talk in Town" by Scott Young and Margaret
Hogan (1979). |
| |
| Subsequent speakers at the Empire Club of Canada included
many Canadian Prime Ministers, British Prime Ministers (including
Sir Winston Churchill, Harold McMillan and Margaret Thatcher), US
Presidents (Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan), UK Royal family (including
HM The Queen Mother and HRH Prince Philip), Russian President (Vladimir
Putin) and ...... Bill Gates (without whom you would probably not be reading
this information !). |
|
Close friend of the Prime Minister of Canada, and the Archives
of Canada
|
|
|
|
As reported by an early Lyon family member |
One of George Lyon's sisters had married the Rev. Mr. Clark
of Deviot (two miles from Inverurie). Her son Rev. Wm. Clark
refused two bishoprics including that of Ely. His two daughters
had become Roman Catholics at a French School. One was Lady
Cole* the other Lady Petre, the latter a very old barony which
descends to daughters as well as male heirs it is "Petre of
Furnwall". Rev. Wm. Clark was at Wells and later came to Trinity
College Toronto. I remember, as a very small child hearing
him lecture on, "The Water Babies". He was a very handsome
man. |
| * Alan Summerly Cole, the son of Sir Henry Cole, was an emminent
person in his own right but I can find no evidence he was a
Sir or Lord [ed]. |
|
|
The family of William Robinson Clark
|
| |
First marriage to Elizabeth Jane Higgins 1855 |
Information about his sons and daughters is [here].
His wife, Elizabeth Jane Higgins (the daughter of Charles Higgins,
a brewer) was
born in Wiltshire, and they married at the Independent Chapel, Salisbury,
Wiltshire in 1855. She died at the Villa Arson, Nice, France in April 1891. She had converted to Catholicism in c.1877 and afterwards there is information they were living apart. She appeared to remain in Europe when he went to Canada. |
| |
"Who Was Who 1897-1915" (p.101 or p.139) lists third wife (Helen Louise Patton) and 6 sons and 5
daughters (we have 7 and 5 !).
As this was written many years later it is likely it refers to living
children. One son, the twin Alred, died soon after birth. [link].
I cannot trace much about his sons, except William
Lyon Clark, post-1881.
The daughters, mainly older, stayed in England. |
| However there is reference to the subsequent marriages of some of
his daughters
that are as colourful as his life. |
|
Second marriage to Emilie Mary Cambell in 1891
|
A second marriage is recorded on the 30th July 1891, when
he was aged 62,
to Emilie Mary Campbell (nee Noall), aged 35, a widow and daughter
of John and Ann,
in Toronto, Canada. |
Toronto 1891, Part 3
014557/91 William Robinson CLARK, 62, widower, Scotland, Toronto, s/o James CLARK & Catherine CLARK, married Emilie Mary CAMPBELL, 35, widow, England, Toronto, d/o John NOALL & Anne NOALL, witn: Joseph BURTON & Elizabeth BURTON, 30 July 1891
|
|
|
| Emilie Noall may have been born in Lancashire. |
|
Third marriage to Helen Louise Patton in 1906
|
There is a Toronto
record that widowed, William Robinson Clark,
again remarried in Toronto in 1906 at the age of 76 to a Helen Louise
Patton, aged 49. |
| The marriage details are:- |
#003946-06 (Toronto)
William Robinson CLARK, 76, Scotland, Toronto, widower,
Clergyman,
son/of James CLARK & (blank) LYON,
married
Helen Louise PATTON, 49, Canada, Toronto, single,
daughter/of James PATTON & (blank) HOOKER,
witnesses: Henry J.F. DUCKWORTH, Alice MacKELLAR, both
Toronto,
married 24 February 1906 |
|
|
| Marriage
- Toronto |
| Hon.
James Patton Q.C. |
| The wife of James Patton has now been identified as Martha Marietta
Hooker. |
| |
William Robinson Clark died on 12th November 1912 in Toronto, Canada.
|
|
Some further info and links (that need some sorting out!)
|
| Peerage
(and daughters) |
LL
D - 1888 awarded to William Robinson Clark
LL.D. Letters indicating the degree Legumptionorum Doctor, one learned
in laws, gifted with legal gumption (being checked out). |
|
|
Origins
|
| His father, James Clark, was a schoolmaster in Daviot, Aberdeenshire
in 1841. James is recorded in the !841 Census as a schoolmaster,
aged 40, living at the Schoolhouse, Daviot, with his family. |
| William Robinson Clark was the eldest son and was aged 12 in the
1841 census. |
| Of James's other children, David
Clark also became a schoolmaster (in Brierley Hill and later Pensnett,
Staffordshire) and his daughter, Elspet (Elsie) became a schoolmistress
whilst still living in Daviot. |
1841 Census of Daviot, Aberdeen
|
| Living at the Schoolhouse, Daviot, Aberdeen. |
Surname
|
Forename
|
Sex
|
Age |
Occupation |
Born |
| Clark |
James |
M |
40 |
Schoolmaster |
Aberdeenshire |
| |
Elspet |
F |
14 |
|
Aberdeenshire |
| |
William |
M |
12 |
|
Aberdeenshire |
| |
David |
M |
9 |
|
Aberdeenshire |
| |
Anne |
F |
7 |
|
Aberdeenshire |
| |
George |
M |
5 |
|
Aberdeenshire |
| Anderson |
Janet |
F |
20 |
Female servant |
Aberdeenshire |
| Thomson |
Robert |
M |
15 |
Agricultural labourer |
Aberdeenshire |
|
|
| |
| His mother, Catherine Clark (nee Lyon), was not present in the
1841 Daviot census as she
had died on 17th April 1836, aged 29, and is buried at Daviot. |
| |
| His father, James Clark died on 18th August 1849 and is also buried
at Daviot, Aberdeen. |
ANESFHS Monumental Index for James
and Catherine at Daviot.
Full ANESFHS
Monumental Inscriptions (gravestones) in Aberdeenshire. |
| |
| William's youngest brother, George (d. 30th June 1866), died in
India and is buried at Daviot, as is sister Elspet (Elsie), who
married William Barclay, and died 19th April 1877. |
| |
| William Barlay and his wife Elspet (Elsie) Barclay (nee Clark),
together with her younger brother George were still living at Pitblain,
Daviot in 1851.
William Barclay was a tailor and Elsie was a schoolmistess.
See 1851 Daviot census. |
| They are not present in the 1861
Daviot census |
| see Local History - Daviot |
| |
| Present Daviot
School web-site |
|
|
Books by William Robinson Clark |
Books of William Robinson Clark
(in The Britiah Library Public Catalogue)
|
 |
|
| |
- [1] Self-knowledge and the four temperaments. a series of sermons
preached in Lent, 1865. by William Robinson Clark ... Clark. William
Robinson 1865
- [2] The Anglican Reformation. CLARK. William Robinson pp. viii.
482. T. & T. Clark: Edinburgh, 1897. 8o.
- [3] Antichrist. The First Resurrection. Two Advent sermons.
CLARK. William Robinson pp. 33. Rivingtons: London; F. May: Taunton,
1865. 8o.
- [4] Beveridge, the Scriptural Preacher. CLARK. William Robinson
- [5] Character and Work. Hints for younger men and women. CLARK.
William Robinson pp. 163. W. W. Gardner: London, [1878.] 8o.
- [6] Christmas. [A sermon.] CLARK. William Robinson 1874.
- [7] The Church and Science. CLARK. William Robinson 1872.
- [8] The Comforter. CLARK. William Robinson S.P.C.K.: London,
[1875.] 16o.
- [9] The Comforter: a series of sermons on certain aspects of
the work of the Holy Ghost. CLARK. William Robinson pp. 160. Rivingtons:
London & Oxford; F. R. Clarke: Taunton, 1864. 8o.
- [10] Culture. [A sermon.] CLARK. William Robinson 1875.
- [11] Four Advent Sermons. CLARK. William Robinson pp. 86. Longman
& Co.: London, 1861. 12o.
- [12] Four Sermons preached during Advent, 1860. Second edition,
partially rewritten. CLARK. William Robinson pp. 86. Longman &
Co.: London, 1861. 8o.
- [13] The Four Temperaments; together with some occasional sermons
... Second edition. CLARK. William Robinson pp. 174. John Hodges:
London, 1874. 8o.
- [14] Hindrances to the Work of the Church in the World: a series
of sermons. [Edited by W. R. Clark.] CLARK. William Robinson pp.
149. W. W. Gardner: London, [1872.] 8o.
- [15] The Paraclete. A series of discourses on the person and
work of the Holy Spirit ... The Slocum lectures, 1899; delivered
at the University of Michigan. CLARK. William Robinson pp. 236.
G. N. Morang & Co.: Toronto, 1900. 8o.
- [16] Pascal and the Port Royalists. CLARK. William Robinson
pp. vii. 235. T. & T. Clark: Edinburgh, 1902. 8o. [click
to download the book in .pdf format]
- [17] The Prodigal Son: a series of sermons. CLARK. William Robinson
pp. 111. Bell & Daldy: London; F. R. Clarke: Taunton, 1860. 8o.
- [18] The Redeemer: a series of sermons on certain aspects of
the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. CLARK. William Robinson
pp. 215. Bell & Daldy: London, 1863. 8o.
- [19] Righteousness exalteth a Nation. A sermon, etc. CLARK.
William Robinson pp. 34. Rivingtons: London, 1876. 8o.
- [20] Savonarola: his life and times. CLARK. William Robinson
S.P.C.K.: London, [1880?] 8o.
|
| British Library Public
catalogue link (needs author search) |
| also A hand-book of Tamil for the use of coffee planters. By Rev.
William Clark, ... 1876 |
| |
Books in Lambeth Palace Library
|
The Anglican reformation. by CLARK, William Robinson.
Publisher Clark, 1897.
Class-mark: H5067.C5 Series: Eras of the Christian Church |
The blessedness of obedience: a sermon ... by CLARK, William
Robinson.
Publisher Paul, 1868.
Class-mark: H5133 407.08 Series: Preaching for the Million.
The Preacher Series Vol No: 238 |
General synod of the Church of England in Canada, Montreal,
Sept. 1902: report of the Committee on the diaconate, to which
are appended the addresses of Charles Jenkins, Esq., Petrolia
Ont. and Rev. Prof. Clark ... by CLARK, William Robinson
Publisher A. Talbot & Co., Printers, 1903. Class-mark: H5600
1.05 |
Classmark: D200.H3 Author: HEFELE, Carl Joseph von, ( bishop
of Rottenburg ) Title: A history of the Christian Councils from
the original documents ... by the Right Rev. Charles Joseph
Hefele;
translated from the German and edited by William R. Clark ...
Place of publication: Edinburgh:
Publisher: Clark, Pub Date: 1894-6. Description: 5 v. Edition:
Vol. I. is 2nd ed. Notes: To 787 A.D.
Additional author: CLARK, William Robinson, (editor) OXENHAM,
Frank Nutcombe, (editor) |
|
| |
William R Clark books for download (and references)
|
| [click
this link] |
| |
Links and references by others to William Robinson Clark
|
| History
guide |
| Bonfire
of the Vanities |
| University
of Toronto Library - (needs name search) |
| National
Library of Canada |
| History
of Toronto |
| |
More Book details
|
| The Anglican Reformation by William Clark
Publisher: New York : Scribner, 1900. ISBN: 0-52401-647-X |
| The Comforter The Comforter a series of sermons on
certain aspects of the work of the Holy Ghost by William Robinson
Clark
Publisher: London : Rivingtons, 1864. ISBN: 0-79057-278-8 |
| Pascal and the Port Royalists by William Clark
Publisher: Edinburgh : T. & T. Clark, 1902. ISBN: 0-79057-212-5 |
| Savonarola, his life and times by William Clark
Publisher: Chicago : A.C. McClurg, 1890. ISBN: 0-52400-985-6 |
| |
Etheldreda Clark links
|
| http://home.planetinternet.be/~jos81/link/philippides/phzw8.htm |
| Directory
of Royal Geanealogical data |
|
The Eng. transl. of Hefele by W. R. Clark includes only vols. i.-iii.
of the German, down to 787 A. D., 5 vols., 1883-96. Of all these Hefele
is the most accessible and now the oftenest cited.
History of the Councils of the Church, in 4 volumes, by Rev. Charles
Hefele, D.D., translated from the German by William Clark M.A., Edinburgh,
1895. |
|
Information on background of Trinity College, Toronto |
Extract - The older, narrower view of Trinity's origins was created by
its chief founder, John Strachan, the bishop of Toronto. Speaking at the
laying of the comei-stone of the first building in 1851, Strachan constructed
a myth of origins for the college which, for decades afterwards, would be
retold at its public events, in its official documents, and in its books
of historical remembrance. he pictured Trinity as the heroic response of
the Church of England in Canada to a radical and irreligious government
which had jettisoned traditional values of education in favor of a secularising
public university. Trinity would train the country's future civic leaders
and professionals in the venerable moral and academic values of English
Christianity. This founding myth, Westfall argues, was an exercise in "creative
misdirection." Claiming to protect tradition from radicalism, Strachan prevented
his audience from seeing how dramatically he himself was changing colonial
Anglicanism. Formerly he had fashioned the Church of England as the common
public religion of the province, administering higher education without
denominational tests; now the church was seceding from public education,
and requiring its teachers and students to subscribe to the Thirty-Nine
Articles. And what did lie mean by claiming that Trinity was Anglican? Most
Anglican lay leaders supported the public university, not Trinity. For its
first thirty years, Trinity was largely a failure. Enrollments were dismally
small. Financial deficits were chronic. The curriculum was modeled on the
"clerical and unreformed" Cambridge which the first provost, George Whitaker,
had attended in the 183Os. The governance and discipline reflected the aristocratic
households of the previous century. A "strongly monastic air" hung about
the fenced compound. The second provost, Charles Body, arrived in 1881,
and soon rejected most of Strachan and Whitaker's vision for Trinity. he
transformed the governance, curriculum, and community life of the college,
and improved relations with lay Anglicans, the University of Toronto, and
the government. His arrival was the real founding moment for the Trinity
College which we know today, with a well-earned reputation for academic
excellence, public service, and ideological diversity.
ALAN L. HAYES Wycliffe College Toronto School of Theology Toronto, Ontario
Copyright Anglican Theological Review, Inc. Summer 2004 |
| |
William Robinson Clark was appointed in 1883 and served the trinity college
for 25 years.
|
|
check-out |
| Author: Clark, William Title: A hand-book of Tamil for the use of coffee
planters. By Rev. William Clark, ... Imprint: Gantz Brothers, Adelphi Press,
7 & 8, Mount Road. 1876 Place of Publication: Madras Date of Publication:
1876 Pagination: [2],vi,270p. 8o British Library Shelfmark: 12910.bb.28
Fiche Quantity: 3 fiches; 11x15 cm Fiche Number: 2.1.383 |
| |
| Reported that - Originally educated for the Congregationalist ministry
at New College London, he later conformed to the Church of England. http://www.freebase.com/view/en/william_robinson_clark |
New College records - Centre for Dissenting Studies
http://surman.english.qmul.ac.uk/resultDisplay.php?dbid=04849 |
| |
| Dr. Wiiliam's Centre for Dissenting Studies |
| Dissenting Acadamies online |
| Lymington, Hampshire (1854-1856) |
| |
| St George's,
Hanover Square |
|
