Bertrand Milbourne Clark (29 April 1894 – 30 March 1958) was an all-round, amateur Jamaican sportsman, who excelled in golf, cricket and tennis, and was the first black person to compete at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

, in 1924.

Family

Clark was born on 29 April 1894. He was descended from Thomas Milbourne Clark, his great grandfather, and Eleanor Fitzgerald, who married in 1824. Thomas was later described as "a free person of colour". He was the second son of Clementina Louise, née Sanguinetti, and Enos Edgar Clark, a dentist in Kingston. He was educated at Kingston High School and then

Jamaica College Jamaica College (abbreviated J.C. or JC) is a public, Christian, secondary school and sixth form for boys in Kingston, Jamaica. It was established in 1789 by Charles Drax, who was the grand-nephew of wealthy Barbadian sugar planter J ...

Sporting career

Clark was a sporting polymath, and competed as an amateur. He represented his school at

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

at the first Inter-Secondary Schools Championship Sports at

Sabina Park Sabina Park is a cricket ground and the home of the Kingston Cricket Club, and is the only Test cricket ground in Kingston, Jamaica. History Sabina Park was originally a Pen (urban residence and adjoining land of a wealthy merchant, shopkeep ...

in 1910, where he came first. He subsequently became known in Jamaica as a top golfer. He played for

Melbourne Cricket Club The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) is a sports club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is one of the oldest sports clubs in Australia. The MCC is responsible for management and development of the Melbourne Cricket Ground ...

alongside his brother Ronald. He also played soccer. He served as Secretary of the Jamaica Golf Association from 1941 to 1951.

Tennis

In seven consecutive years he was the All Jamaica tennis champion. In all, he won seven singles, seven doubles and five mixed titles at the championships. His male doubles partners were Charlie Brandon, , and ; and in mixed doubles Mrs William Wilson, Mrs (later Mrs. Cy Elkins), Edna DaCosta and Olive Wilson. He beat the American

Tally Holmes Talley Robert "Tally" Holmes (December 9, 1889 in Washington, D.C. − March 1, 1969 in Washington, D.C.American Tennis Association The American Tennis Association (ATA) is based in Largo, Maryland, outside Washington, D.C., and is the oldest African-American sports organization in the United States. The core of the ATA's modern mission continues to be promoting tennis as a ...

title, for

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

players, in 1920. At Wimbledon in 1924, where he was the first black player to complete, he was defeated in the first round by Vincent Burr. In his only other recorded appearance there, in 1930, he was beaten in the first round by

Herman David Herman David (26 June 1905 in Birmingham – 25 February 1974). he was the son of Herman David-Nillet, diamond trader and consular agent, and Marie Léonie Chavin, who both came from Jura, France. He was an English tennis player and later admin ...

. During a royal tour of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

in 1927,

Prince Albert, Duke of York George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...

(later King George VI) partnered Clark in a game of doubles; this was unusual at the time and was seen as a display of equality between races.

Writing

With his brother, he wrote several books on cricket. He also wrote about golf and tennis.

Personal life

From 1911, Clark worked as a civil servant, retiring as medical secretary of the Island Medical Office. He was twice married but had no children. He was listed in the Jamaican ''Who's Who'' for 1946. He died on 30 March 1958. An obituary was published in the ''

Sunday Gleaner ''The Gleaner'' is an English-language, morning daily newspaper founded by two brothers, Jacob De Cordova, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova on 13 September 1834 in Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica. Originally called the ''Daily Gleaner'', the name ...

'', which said that Clark was "perhaps the greatest all-round Jamaican sportsman of our time".

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Bertrand Milbourne Jamaican male tennis players Jamaican male golfers Jamaican cricketers 20th-century Jamaican writers Sportswriters Jamaican footballers 1894 births 1958 deaths Association footballers not categorized by position