Papers of George William Clarke (1849-1919)

The collection description reads: « George William Clarke, China Inland Mission missionary to China, was born on May 30 1849 in Shoreditch, East London. One of five children he began working full-time in a factory when he was nine years old. In his teens he attended a night school run by Annie Macpherson, the promoter of child migration to Canada. When he was twenty-three he took charge of the first party of Macpherson boys being sent to Canada. In 1879, in Shanghai, he married Fanny Rossier (also referred to as Marta), a Swiss missionary. In 1886 he married Agnes Lancaster, who had gone to China in 1880 and had worked in T’ai-yuen in the province of Shansi. They had a son (John) but Agnes Clarke died in 1892 after giving birth to a daughter (also Agnes). Clarke died in Shantung province in 1919. Agnes, was a CIM missionary for forty-six years and worked in east Szechwan before retiring to the CIM home for retired members in Kent. The collection consists of a pamphlet by Agnes Clarke about her father (1962); three volumes of diaries written by George Clarke (1879-1883); a book on Kweichow and Yunnan provinces by George Clarke (1894); cuttings from China’s Millions about the Clarke family (1875-1941); and four photographs of the family and one of a Chinese river (circa 1880-1890). »