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b.1848-d.1902
Richard’s parents and siblings
According to Richard’s death certificate he was born c1848 and had lived in the Lewisham area. Further research however found that Richard was actually born on 18th February 1846 in the parish of Kingsbridge, Devon, and was the son of John Clark (1804 – 1856) and his wife Rachel, nee Lakey (1807 – 1887).
The wedding banns for his parents had been read on 2nd January 1831 and they had married on 19th January 1831 in St Edmunds Anglican Church in the market town of Kingsbridge. The couple had seven known children:
- Ann was baptised on 22nd January 1832, married Thomas Lane, and died 1910.
- Elizabeth Lakey (1st) born 1836, died 1837.
- John born 1838, married Margaret and died 1867.
- Elizabeth Lakey (2nd) born 1841, died 1843.
- Jane born 1843, married Joseph Callaway and died 1884.
- Richard born 1846, married Susan Osman and died 1902.
- Elizabeth Lakey (3rd) born 1849, married George Lewis, date of death unknown but after 1911.
The 1841 Census recorded that John, Rachel and their children, Ann aged 9, John aged 2, and five-month-old Elizabeth (2nd) were living in the village of Malborough, West Alvington, Devon, where John worked as a shoemaker. The village is near the seaport town of Salcombe.
Kingsbridge
The 1851 enumerator described the Kingsbridge area where the Clark family lived as “part of Dodbrook parish which lies on the east side of the road leading from the Higher Bowcombe bridge by Shindle Mill, Foxhole, Barrack Street, Church Street, to Century Pond”. Five-year-old Richard was living in Church Street with his 46-year-old father John, his 45-year-old mother Rachel, and his siblings Ann aged 19, John aged 13, Jane aged 7, and Elizabeth (3rd) aged 1. Both his father and brother John were boot and shoemakers.
Richard was aged 10 when his father John died and was buried on 19th October 1856 in St Thomas of Canterbury Churchyard in Kingsbridge.
Richard joins the Royal Navy
With his widowed mother’s blessing, Richard was 14 when he volunteered on 18th June 1860 to join the Royal Navy as ‘Boy 2nd Class’ aboard the “Victory”. He was described as 4 foot 9 inches tall, with a fair complexion, dark brown hair, and light brown eyes. He also signed an agreement that when he reached the age of 18, on 18th February 1864, that he would stay for another ten years.
On 7th April 1861, the census recorded that Richard was aged 15 and was in Portsmouth Harbour aboard a tender to “Victory” as a ‘Boy’ in the Royal Navy.
The 1871 Census recorded that Richard was aboard “Racoon“, a First Class Corvette, as an Able Seaman in the Royal Navy docked in the Dockyard Halifax. The Royal Navy Registers of Seaman’s Services record that Richard had by 1873 grown to 5 foot 4 inches tall, that he still had dark brown hair, hazel-coloured eyes, but that his complexion was now dark. Interestingly, in the box marked ‘Trade’, it was recorded that he had been a ‘Photo Artist’. His last three records of service were listed as follows:
- Ship served on: Racoon – Able Bodied Seaman – from 1st January 1873 to 2nd July 1873 – Character ‘Fair’. [HMS Racoon had been sailing around North America and the West Indies in April 1873].
- Ship served on: Duke of Wellington – Able Bodied Seaman – from 3rd July 1873 to 6th September 1873 – Character ‘Very Good’. [HMS Duke of Wellington was a receiving ship, like a floating barrack, in Portsmouth in 1873].
- Ship served on: Asia – Able Bodied Seaman – from 7th September 1873 to 21st February 1874 – Character ‘Very Good’.
Marriage to Susan and the birth of a son
After completing his agreed service, Richard was discharged from the Royal Navy. Where he went from there is unclear, but he married 35-year-old widow Susan Murless, née Osman/Osmond, on 25th March 1876 in St Georges Church, Camberwell. Their marriage certificate states that Richard was of full age [30 years old] and that he was a Marinier. Both gave Old Kent Road as their address, and their witnesses were John and Elizabeth Jane Chapple.
Susan, who had been born in Lyme Regis, gave birth to their only known child, Arthur Richard, on 16th August 1878 at their home in 35 Bennett Street, Greenwich, Kent.
By 1881 Richard and Susan were living with their 3-year-old son Arthur at 34 John Street, Greenwich. Richard was then working as a labourer at an iron works.
Richard’s mother Rachel was aged 80 when she died in 1887. She had been living with her married daughter Elizabeth before her death.
Admission to Dreadnought Seaman’s Hospital
On 16th October 1888 42-year-old Richard Clarke (sic) was admitted to Dreadnought Seaman’s Hospital suffering from a strangulated hernia; after 9 days he was discharged on 30th October to convalesce. At the time he was working as a labourer for John Penn & Sons, a marine engineering company. Other information in the hospital admittance book stated that Richard’s religion was Church of England, that his ship’s name [address] was 18 Drysdale Road, Lewisham, and that he had been born in Kingsbridge.
Lewisham
By 1891, Richard, Susan, and Arthur were living at 48 Lethbridge Road, Lewisham. Richard was recorded as working as a Fitters labourer. By 1894 they had moved along the road to number 16 Lethbridge Road.
The 1901 Census confirmed that Richard, Susan and their 22-year-old son Arthur Richard were still living at number 16. Richard was working as an engineer’s labourer and Arthur as an engineer fireman. [The Electoral Registers between 1894 – 1903 record that Richard was living at 16 Lethbridge Road in Lewisham. The records would have been compiled the year before publishing].
Admission to Horton and death
On 20th November 1902, Richard was admitted from the Lewisham Union Infirmary to Horton Asylum in Epsom, Surrey. His stay there would be a matter of weeks before he died aged 54 on 17th December 1902. His body was buried in grave 91 in the Horton Estate Cemetery on 22nd December. A postmortem showed that his cause of death was due to pneumonia of several days, and heart disease. The death certificate recorded Richard had been a ‘Labourer of Lewisham Union Infirmary’.
Richard’s widow and son after his death
Richard’s widow Susan’s whereabouts after the 1901 census is unknown, but their son Arthur was an ‘odd [job] man, domestic’ living alone at 48 Lethbridge Road when the 1911 census was taken. On 31st January 1918 Arthur, aged 40, was called up and joined the Labour Corp as Private 461357 but discharged as unfit on 3rd March 1919. By 1921 he was living at 16 Bennett Street, Greenwich and working as a school cleaner. Arthur was working as a general labour and living at 17 Banning Street, Greenwich, when the 1939 Register was taken at the onset of the Second World War. He died in 1946 and was buried on 6th June in Greenwich.
Note:
Only 2 Lewisham Workhouse records found for Admission and Discharges of a Richard Clark just prior to 1902:
Born 1840, aged 50 on 5th February 1890
Born 1844, aged 50, on 22nd March 1894.
May he have been admitted just to the infirmary prior to transfer to Horton?
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