The Orledge💖Clark family Photos.

These four lovely family photos I bought back in July from a favourite eBay seller. Unfortunately, I got beaten in the bidding for the fifth one, but I’m pleased to have four of the same family.

These first two old Cabinet Card photos are just beautiful; the first one is Eva Clark as a toddler and young baby Florence Clark. On the second, we have the addition of Elizabeth Clark, the youngest daughter.

Parents.

Their parents were Alice Maud Orledge and Charles Edward Clark. The couple had married on 18 June 1887 at Holy Trinity Church in Frome, Somerset, where Alice had been born. She was the daughter of Matilda Maria Hopkins, 1830-1918 and Robert Orledge, 1827-1902, who was a Chemist and Druggist.

Alice and Charles had four children; the first was a son, Robert Thomas, born in the third quarter of 1888; he sadly died in the first quarter of 1889. Then the couple had Eva Mary in 1890, Florence Matilda in 1893 and lastly Elizabeth Ann in 1897.

Charles Edward Clark was born in 1858 in Frampton Mansell, Gloucestershire. The son of Thomas Clark and Mary Gillman. He was a JP (Justice of the Peace), a farmer and landowner in the Chalford district of Gloucestershire, who passed away on 19 December 1931. The family lived at The Downs in Sapperton, Gloucestershire, from the time of Charles and Alice’s marriage. His father was a Farmer at Beacon Farm, also in Frampton Mansell, where Charles grew up. Charles was known for his nonconformist Baptist beliefs, which occasionally led to conflicts with the authorities.

Records held by Gloucestershire Archives.

The bulk of the Clark family collection (was deposited by Florence and Elizabeth) relates to Charles E. Clark, JP (d.1931), who was Mrs Drewett’s grandfather, and who worked as a farmer and landowner in the Chalford district. He was a committed Baptist, whose nonconformist views led him, along with others like him, into conflict with the authorities over the implementation of the Education Act of 1902. This legislation effectively required that Poor Rates be levied to fund sectarian teaching as part of the government’s drive for national standards in schooling. Participation in the so-called “Passive Resistance movement” figured largely in his public life, and he received numerous court summonses for non-payment of rates in the decade before the Great War.

An active member of local politics as early as 1895, when he chaired Sapperton Parish Council, Charles Clark went on to achieve prominence as a candidate in the County Council elections for Bisley Division. He contested the seat over four successive campaigns during the period 1903-19, going on to win at the third attempt in 1913. It was at this time that he became an Alderman.

In later life, he founded the Frampton Mansell Memorial Chapel in 1924 as a fitting tribute to his daughter Eva Clark, a missionary and surgeon, and to those local men who sacrificed their lives in the Great War (see also D8088).

Gloucestershire Archives also holds family Correspondence and papers of the family, including letters of congratulation on the occasion of Mr Clark’s marriage to Miss Alice Orledge (1887). Also letters of condolence on the death of their first-born child, Robert Thomas (1889); plus a series of “In Memoriam” cards issued for departed relatives and friends (1883-1934)

Eva, Florence & Elizabeth.

I’m starting with Florence Matilda Orledge Clark, born on 4 October 1893 in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. She had no actual occupation listed on any census records. But interestingly, on the 1939 register, she has a child living with her, Peter Orledge Clark, born 26 April 1927, living with her. Could Peter be her son, or is he another member of the family?

I’ve found a possible birth on FreeBMD for him: Birth in the second quarter of 1927: Clark Peter Clark Rochford 4a 1140. This one is not on the GRO, so I can’t get a digital copy to check. Mother’s maiden name is Clark, so a possible match. I have also found a marriage in October 1976 to Evelyn Mary Arkell. Which is also interesting, as Florence died in October 1976. Did she die before they married? Peter and Evelyn are buried together in Westwell, Oxfordshire. Peter died on 16 October 2001, and Evelyn died on 15 April 2002.

Florence is the baby here on the photo below, Eva is the eldest.

Eva (on the right) & Florence (Left). Born 14 January 1890 & 4 October 1893, respectively.

Next, I’ll come to Elizabeth Ann Orledge Clark, who was born on 7 February 1897 in Frampton Mansell, Gloucestershire. She married John Bernard Sidney Marsh in April 1928 in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. They had two children during their marriage. She died on 13 November 1985 in Loughborough, Leicestershire, at the age of 88.

Eva, Bessie (Elizabeth Ann, born 7 February 1897) & Florence.

Elizabeth, in the above photo, is the baby called ‘Bessie’.

Elizabeth’s husband, John B S Marsh, was a Chartered Accountant. Born 26 June 1901 and died 23 Aug 1973 in Loughborough, Leicestershire. The couple had married in spring 1928. Elizabeth died in 1985 and left £386,866 in her probate record.

Marsh Descendants.

The couple had two daughters, neither married.

Their first daughter was Elizabeth Jean Marsh, known as Betty. Born 1930-2024. The second daughter was Kathleen Marsh, born in 1932. The sisters lived together at 335, Beacon Road, Loughborough. I am unable to find a death for Kathleen, so could she still be alive?

I often find that if you Google the name you are researching, you can sometimes get a nice surprise with one or even more links to more interesting information. This was one such case! I googled Kathleen Marsh and found a Loughborough Facebook group, and someone had posted this question in 2019, and there were a few replies.

Facebook 2019. “Does anybody remember the names of the two ladies who kept a small market garden off Pytchley Drive at the top of Beacon Road? There are houses there now”.

“The wife of Mr Marsh of Marsh and Moss accountants, Baxter Gate“.

“I’m sure one of them told my husband she used to be a Methodist missionary/doctor in India”.

“They were Kathleen Marsh and her elder sister, Dr Betty Marsh, who spent many years, after qualifying as a doctor, living and working in very difficult conditions in India. I first knew them at Loughborough High School and also at Woodgate Baptist Church, which later amalgamated with Baxtergate Baptist Church, where they have been lifelong members”.

Dr Eva Mary Clark.

Eva Mary Clark was born on 14 January 1890.

As I was unable to find out much initially about Eva, I ordered the digital birth record, which at least gave me a date of birth.

Then I came across several listings of Eva in Medical Records. She qualified as a Doctor at the University of Edinburgh on 4 April 1918.

What do the letters mean? M.B. Ch.B. 1918 from the University of Edinburgh signifies a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree awarded in 1918, representing a medical qualification from that esteemed Scottish university, a common degree for doctors graduating around World War I, often marking their entry into medical practice.

So knowing a little more, I searched the Newspaper Archives on Find My Past. Sadly, I found that she had died at the age of 32 while working in India.

Now that I had a date of death, I was able to find out more.

On Find My Past, I found where she was working: ‘Wills and Administrations by District Courts in India and by High/Chief Courts established since 1865. Presidency Bombay’ Record set: British India Office Wills & Probate.

It says late of the Lady Hardinge College, Dehli, India.

Lady Hardinge Medical College in Delhi was established as a medical institution exclusively for women and was a key site of women’s medical education in British India.

Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital, Delhi: nurses on a ward. Photograph, 1921. Iconographic Collections.

Although the college was originally intended to be called Queen Mary College and Hospital (to commemorate Queen Mary’s visit to India in 1911–12), it was renamed Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital on the suggestion of Queen Mary after Lady Hardinge’s untimely death later in 1914.

Then the Theology on the Web, website:

Eva had sailed out to Sri Lanka on 22 Nov 1919, then she obviously travelled on to Dehli, India.

Granny and Grandpa Orledge.

Matilda Maria Hopkins was born in 1830 in Glastonbury, Somerset. Her parents were Thomas and Rebecca. She married Robert Orledge on 6 February 1851 in Glastonbury. She died on 5 July 1918 in Frome, Somerset, aged 88 years.

Robert Orledge was born in 1827 in Pilton, Somerset. Robert was a Chemist and Druggist in Frome, Somerset. He died in June 1902 in Frome, Somerset, having lived a long life of 75 years.

The next small CDV is the couple’s two daughters, Florence Emily Orledge, 1855-1883; she was just 28 when she died. Her younger sister was Alice Maud Orledge, 1856-1926, who you met at the beginning of this blog. Alice married Mr Clark.