Author: Clark, Esther
Biography:
CLARK, Esther, formerly LEWIS (1716-94: ODNB)
She was baptised on 10 Apr. 1716 at St. Katharine’s, Holt, Wiltshire, the daughter of Rev. John Lewis (1685-1761), rector of Great Chadfield and curate of Holt (both Wilts.), and Hester/Esther Punter (1685-1744), who had married at Tetbury, Gloucestershire, in 1708 when John Lewis was schoolmaster there (1705-12). Her education and talents were encouraged by her father (who had been educated at St. Edmund’s Hall, Oxford and had antiquarian interests) and the poet and physician Dr. Samuel Bowden (fl 1733-61), who had treated her when she had smallpox in the 1740s. He was a contributor to the Bath Journaland encouraged her contributions under the signature “Sylvia.” He also promoted her in “To a Young Lady of Holt on her most Ingenious Poems” (1749), which she later reprinted. In his will her father made extensive provision for his children and grandchildren, with Esther being particularly favoured, with £600 and his large and valuable collection of books. With both her parents dead, she married Robert Clark (1732-95), widower and estate owner, and sixteen years her junior, on 12 Oct. 1762, at his church, St. Mary’s, Tetbury, Gloucestershire. (His first wife, Eleanor Lloyd, had died on 29 Sept. 1755, aged 23, probably due to childbirth complications.) The marriage seems to have been happy and she took on the upbringing of her step-daughter Mary. At her death, a letter records her exemplary conduct as daughter and wife but also notes his good conduct and encouragement of her talents (Gloucester Journal, 19 May 1794). Her only collection, listed here, was “Published at the Request of her Husband, for the Benefit of the Infirmary at Glocester [sic], the Hospital at Bath, and the Sunday Schools at Tetbury” (title-page). It consists mostly of occasional verse but includes lively poems on marriage, a mineral pump, recovery from smallpox, her father, and an address to the novelist Sarah Fielding. She died on 8 May 1794 at Tetbury and was buried there on 16 May, aged 75 [sic]. Her husband, Robert, died the following year on 16 Jan. 1795, aged 62. There is a memorial tablet at St. Mary’s, Tetbury. (ODNB 3 Dec. 2023; ancestry 3 Dec. 2023; findmypast 3 Dec. 2023; ECWP; Gloucester Journal 19 May 1794) AA
Other Names:
- Esther Clark, nee Lewis