Jane Inglis Clark (1859/1860–1950) was a Scottish mountaineer and rock climber. She co-founded the

Ladies' Scottish Climbing Club The Ladies' Scottish Climbing Club was founded by Jane Inglis Clark, her daughter Mabel, and Lucy Smith at a boulder near Lix Toll, Perthshire in 1908. It now has about 120 members and is the oldest active climbing club exclusively for wome ...

with Lucy Smith and Mabel Clark in 1908.

Life

Inglis Clark was born Jane Isabella Shannon to Isabella Struthers Wilson and David Shannon, a

tea planter Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

. In 1884 she married

William Inglis Clark William Inglis Clark FRSE (4 June 1855 – 21 December 1932) was a Scottish pharmaceutical chemist. He is also remembered as a keen amateur mountaineer. Clark invented a neutral encapsulation of foul-tasting medicines. As a chemist and keen ama ...

and they had two children, Mabel Clark (1885-1967) and Charles Clark (1888-1918). During the First World War, Inglis Clark was a Voluntary Aid Detachment Commandant for the Red Cross. From 1919-1938 she was a parish and county councillor in Edinburgh, where she also served as a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

Mountaineering

Inglis Clark was a keen hillwalker who discovered

rock climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

in 1897. With a natural aptitude for climbing difficult routes, from 1897 to 1904, Inglis Clark was part of six first ascents on Ben Nevis. She was proud to be a pioneer and was keen to encourage other women to take up mountaineering. Since women were not allowed to join the all-male Scottish Mountaineering Club, Inglis Clark, together with Lucy Smith and her daughter Mabel founded the Ladies Scottish Climbing Club in 1908. The Club's purpose was "to bring together Ladies who are lovers of mountain-climbing, and to encourage mountaineering in Scotland, in winter as well as in summer." Inglis Clark wrote about her mountaineering experiences in her book ''Pictures and Memories'', published in 1938, which also commemorates women’s increased participation in climbing. Cic-2

Charles Inglis Clark Memorial Hut

As a memorial of their son, a keen mountaineer who was killed in the First World War, Jane and William Inglis Clark funded the Charles Inglis Clark Memorial Hut on Ben Nevis, which opened in 1929. Archive footage shows mountaineers gathering on Ben Nevis for the opening ceremony.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Inglis Clark, Jane 19th-century births 1950 deaths Year of birth uncertain People associated with Edinburgh Scottish mountain climbers Female climbers Scottish women activists Scottish justices of the peace British women's rights activists