Charles Allen Clarke (1863–1935), most widely known as C. Allen Clarke, was an English working-class humorist, novelist, journalist and social investigator from

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. An Independent Labour Party (ILP) member and friend of Robert Blatchford, Clarke succeeded

Joseph Burgess Joseph Burgess (1853–1934) was a British journalist, writer and Labour politician. He was born on 3 July 1853 in Failsworth, Lancashire, the third of six children of handloom weavers, and was educated at a print works school in Failsworth. H ...

as editor of the ''

Yorkshire Factory Times The ''Yorkshire Factory Times'' was a British newspaper, founded in 1889. It was published weekly between 3 January 1890 and 29 December 1899. The newspaper was initially edited by Joseph Burgess and published from Huddersfield. The ''Yorkshire ...

''.

Life

Born in Bolton, Clarke left school at thirteen, when he moved with his parents to Mirfield and worked half-time in a mill. The family soon moved back to Bolton, where he continued to work, while studying in his spare time at Hulton School. He became a

pupil-teacher Pupil teacher was a training program in wide use before the twentieth century, as an apprentice system for teachers. With the emergence in the beginning of the nineteenth century of education for the masses, demand for teachers increased. By 1840, ...

there, and he continued to teach for seven years, after which he took a post with the ''

Bolton Evening News ''The Bolton News'' – formerly the ''Bolton Evening News'' – is a daily newspaper and news website covering the towns of Bolton and Bury in north-western England. Published each morning from Monday to Saturday and online every day, it is par ...

''. Initially, his work was mundane, copying records and compiling directories, but the

Bolton engineers' strike Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th cen ...

of 1887 inspired him to become more political, and he joined the

Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Con ...

(SDF) the following year, when Tom Mann founded a local branch.Margaret 'Esipinasse, ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'' (vol.5), pp.64–70 Clarke founded his own newspaper in 1890, the ''Labour Light'', at which he employed James Haslam in his first journalistic role. The two also worked with

J. R. Clynes John Robert Clynes (27 March 1869 – 23 October 1949) was a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for 35 years, and as Leader of the Labour Party (1921–1922), led the party in its breakthroug ...

in an attempt to found a trade union for cotton piecers in Lancashire. Both projects were unsuccessful, but Clarke founded a new paper, the ''Bolton Trotter'', in 1891, which ran as a weekly publication until 1893, together with an annual, the ''Trotter Christmas Annual''. ''Teddy Ashton's Journal'' was started in 1896 as a continuation of the ''Trotter'', with ''Teddy Ashton's Christmas Annual'' as the associated annual. Clarke continued to edit the publication (as ''Teddy Ashton's Northern Weekly'', ''Teddy Ashton's Weekly Fellowship'' and ''Teddy Ashton's Weekly'') for fourteen years. Clarke's best-known novel, ''The Knobstick'' (1893), was originally serialised in the ''

''. It took the 1887 Bolton engineers' strike as its backdrop, though Clarke added both a love story and a sensational crime plot. Clarke moved towards

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...

in the 1890s, affected by some family tragedies and apparently encountering the psychic powers of his second wife. Clarke stood as the Labour Representation Committee candidate for

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

at the

1900 UK general election The 1900 United Kingdom general election was held between 26 September and 24 October 1900, following the dissolution of Parliament on 25 September. Also referred to as the Khaki Election (the first of several elections to bear this sobriquet), ...

, supported by both the

(SDF) and the Independent Labour Party (ILP), of which he was now also a member. He opposed the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

, and called for

state pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

s and the nationalisation of the railways and coal mines. He took 901 votes and third place. In the same year, he moved back to Bolton to become editor of the ''Northern Weekly'', then back to Blackpool in 1906, where he continued to edit the ''Weekly'' and ''Teddy Ashton's Journal''. He also wrote for the '' Liverpool Weekly Post'' and '' Blackpool Gazette'', and produced a series of novels. Clarke trained his younger brother,

Tom Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, as a journalist, and Tom later became editor of the '' Daily News'' and ''

News Chronicle The ''News Chronicle'' was a British daily newspaper. Formed by the merger of '' The Daily News'' and the ''Daily Chronicle'' in 1930, it ceased publication on 17 October 1960,''Liberal Democrat News'' 15 October 2010, accessed 15 October 2010 be ...

''.

Legacy

In 1937, Cornelius Bagot of Blackpool donated Little Marton windmill to be maintained in memorial to Clarke. As of 2014, it is maintained by The Friends of Little Marton Windmill.

Works

* ''In darkest Huddersfield and one way out of it: or, why have we no public library'', 1891. * ''The Knobstick: a story of love and labour'', 1893. * ''The Friend of Santa Claus, and Other Stories'', 1893. * ''Tales of a Deserted Village'', 1894. * ''The Witch of Eagle's Crag'', 1895. * ''Old Tales for Young Folks'', 1895. * ''"Voices", and Other Verses'', 1895. * ''What Do We Live For?'', 1896. * ''The Effects of the Factory System'', 1899. * ''A Great Catch: a comedietta in three scenes: for five females and a baby'' * ''Woman's Chance: a comedietta in three scenes: for three females'', 1901. * ''The Eternal Question - Is There Another Life?'', 1902. * ''Starved into Surrender'', 1904. * ''Lancashire Lasses and Lads'', 1906. * ''Windmill Land: rambles in a rural, old-fashioned country with chat about its history and romance'', 1916. * ''More Windmill Land: rambles in a rural, old-fashioned country with chat about its history and romance'', 1918. * ''Moorlands & Memories'', 1920. * ''Tum Fowt Sketches. no. 1-32'', 1922. * ''The Story of Blackpool'', 1923. * ''Windmill Land Stories'', 1924. * ''Teddy Ashton's Lancashire Poems'', 1928. * ''Blackpool: walks and rides in the Fylde and over Wyre'', 1930.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, C. Allen 1863 births 1935 deaths 19th-century English novelists 20th-century English novelists English male journalists Independent Labour Party politicians English male novelists Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Social Democratic Federation members People from Bolton 19th-century English male writers 20th-century English male writers