Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

8 Chapter One Tracing Clarke’s Early Life The usual opening for a biography is a setting of the scene when the subject is born – the circumstances of his parents and their immediate families, and how they came to be in the town or village at the time of their child’s birth. At first glance this initial task for a William Clarke biography does not appear too arduous. J.F.Sutton’s book, Nottingham Cricket Matches from 1771 to 1853 , published in 1853, when William Clarke was in his pomp, contains a final chapter, Sketches of Players . William Clark’s [sic] entry begins: … the celebrated slow bowler, deservedly requires priority of notice. He was born in Nottingham, December 24, 1798 and (though yet stout and hearty) is consequently bordering on ‘the sear and yellow leaf of life.’ Many, however, may his years yet be! His father was a bricklayer, residing on Bunker’s Hill, and Clarke was brought up to the same business … The baptismal register of St Mary’s Church, a short walk from Bunker’s Hill, contains an entry on 30 December 1798: ‘William, son of John Clarke and Mary.’ Thus far the search for William and his parents has followed a predictable path. The next step in discovering more about John and Mary Clarke is the church marriage registers. A check through St Mary’s registers from 1760 to 1798 produces: 3 September 1780 John Clarke and Mary Parrott 9 June 1783 John Clarke and Mary Ford 2 April 1786 John Clarke and Mary Richmond 1 July 1792 John Clark and Mary Bannister An immediate reaction to this list is to eliminate the fourth entry because the surname is Clark and William’s baptism gives Clarke as the father’s surname. However the extant trade directories for the period rather contradict this assumption: 1799 and 1814 Clark, John, Bricklayer, Parliament Street 1818 Clark, John, Builder, Parliament Street 1825 Clark, John, Bricklayer, Parliament Street Bunker’s Hill was an off-shoot of Parliament Street and disappeared when the Victoria railway station and line was being constructed through the middle of Nottingham in the 1890s. The four trade directory entries coincide with the information Clarke gave to Sutton and thus the idea of eliminating the 1792 married couple would seem to be incorrect. The matter is slightly more confused by an inspection of the St Peter’s Church marriage register, which contains a single John Clark(e) entry in the period searched: