Author: Clarke, Ann
Biography:
CLARKE, Ann (fl 1824-40)
There are several impediments to locating biographical information for Ann Clarke: her common name, that she was a Baptist, and that her birth surname is unknown. She also seems to have moved frequently. Her Poems, Moral and Entertaining contains verse that reveals some details of her life: at the time of the book’s publication she was a widow and, although she had had five daughters and one son, the poems record the illness and death of two of the daughters and of the son. One of her daughters was named Kezia and a Kezia Clark was baptised in the non-conformist chapel in Leeds on 31 Jan. 1806; her parents’ names were John and Ann. On 25 Apr. 1836 Ann Clarke, writing from 11 William Place, Prospect Row, Walworth Road in London applied to the RLF. The literary grounds for her application were her many evangelical writings, including the works listed in this database. Her supporters included P. Broad, minister of the Carmel Chapel in Southwark, S. Lillycrop of the 1st Baptist church, and Thomas Corne of the Ebenezer Chapel in Whitechapel; the latter records that Clarke had once been well-off but was reduced to poverty. Clarke’s letters state that in 1836 she was in her 65th year and the sole support for a widowed daughter. She was awarded £10 and a further £5 in 1838. A third application, from 4 May 1840 when Clarke gave her address as New West Square, Lambeth, was refused. Clarke’s widowed sister, Maria Barber, was an applicant to the RLF in 1839. (ancestry.co.uk 29 Dec. 2023; RLF file 852; RLF file 956 [for Maria Barber])