The National Library of Wales :: Dictionary of Welsh Biography

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CLARK family, printers and publishers in Monmouthshire , etc. JAMES CLARK ( 1781 - 1859 ) settled in Chepstow in 1823 ; b. 22 Jan. 1781 at Gloucester , he became an apprentice in the offices of The Gloucester Journal , and afterwards worked in London and Portsmouth . He m. Mary Baker (d. 1875 , a centenarian) about the time that he returned to Gloucester , which was in 1808 . He appears to have lived at Gosport, Hants. , and Trowbridge, Wilts. , before he settled at Chepstow ( 1823 ). A little later his son, WILLIAM CLARK (d. April 1891 ), became partner, and it was the firm of Clark and Son which began ( 23 June 1855 ) to print and publish The Chepstow Weekly Advertiser , which continued to appear until 1916 . The business was continued by WILLIAM CLARK and EMMELINE CLARK , son and daughter of William Edward Clark ; it was sold in 1903 to Enoch Williams . James Clark d. 12 June 1859 .

A fortnight after The Chepstow Weekly Advertiser began to appear, another Monmouthshire newspaper started its career — The Illustrated Usk Observer ; this was printed and published at Usk by JAMES CLARK ( 1818 - 1913 ), another son of James Clark . J. H. Clark and his elder brother GEORGE CLARK (who, however, d. at Chepstow 12 April 1835 ) began business at Usk on 1 Jan. 1834 . Both brothers had learned the craft of printing at their father's office. J. H. Clark was b. 23 Jan. 1818 in Gloucester and d. 16 Feb. 1913 , aged 95. During his long life as printer and publisher he wrote and published several books , e.g. Usk and its Neighbourhood , 1856 ; Handbook to Monmouthshire and South Wales , 1861 ; Sketches of Monmouthshire , 1868 ; History of Monmouthshire , 1869 ; Usk Past and Present , 1893 ; etc. — for further details see Ifano Jones , History of Printing and Printers in Wales and Monmouthshire , and the ‘ Monmouthshire Bibliography ’ of William Haines (q.v.) (in manuscript in N.L.W. ). The newspaper begun in 1855 continued, with change of name, to appear until 1907 . J. H. Clark m., 15 March 1838 , Sophia (d. 1901 ), eldest daughter of William Howell , Chepstow . For some years he had a book-selling shop in Cardiff also. In Aug. 1875 he began to publish a monthly, The Usk Gleaner and Monmouthshire Record , which continued to appear until the end of 1878 . The Usk business was continued by his daughter, ELIZA CLARK .

WILLIAM CLARK , eldest son of J. H. Clark , left Usk in 1866 for Brecon , where he founded The Brecon County Times .

Bibliography:

To the sources named above add James Henry Clark , Reminiscences of Monmouthshire , Usk, 1908 , 1908 .

Author:

Sir William Llewelyn Davies, M.A., LL.D., F.S.A. (1887-1952), Aberystwyth