Sir George Smith Clark, 1st Baronet, DL (8 November 1861 – 23 March 1935) was a businessman and politician in Northern Ireland. George S. Clark was born in Paisley,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

the second son of thread manufacturer James Clark, and Jane Smith; both his parents were Scottish Presbyterians.

Early life

Clark was educated at

Merchiston Castle School Merchiston Castle School is an independent boarding school for boys in the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has around 470 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 7 and 18 as either boarding or day pupils; it was modelled a ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. He was apprenticed to

Harland and Wolff Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the W ...

in Belfast and, in 1877, opened his own shipyard on the

river Lagan The River Lagan (; Ulster Scots: ''Lagan Wattèr'') is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs 53.5 miles (86 km) from the Slieve Croob mountain in County Down to Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The ...

with Frank Workman. Clark's mother's brother, George Smith, was able to provide capital for this initial venture. In 1891 the firm became

Workman, Clark and Company Workman, Clark and Company was a shipbuilding company based in Belfast. History The business was established by Frank Workman and George Clark in Belfast in 1879 and incorporated Workman, Clark and Company Limited in 1880. By 1895 it was the UK ...

. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the shipyard concentrated on

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

work and it was for this that, in 1917, Clark received the Baronetcy of Dunlambert.

Personal life

In 1881 Clark married Frances Matier, and became a director of her family's

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong, absorbent, and dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. It also ...

firm; Henry Matier & Co. The couple had two sons. The family hosted computing pioneer

Dora Metcalf Dora Stuart Primrose Metcalf (11 March 1892 – 17 October 1982) was an entrepreneur, mathematician and computing pioneer. During World War I she was a comptometer operator in a munitions factory during which time she realised the potential in ...

in Belfast when she was introducing comptometery machines into the shipyards in 1916.

A leading Belfast Unionist

In a 1907 by-election he became

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for North Belfast, retiring in 1910 to devote more attention to his business affairs. In 1913 the Workman Clark shipyard had assisted the UVF with the Larne gun running campaign encouraged by Sir Edward Carson. In 1925 Clark became a Unionist

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in the

Northern Ireland parliament The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...

. He remained in this position until his death at his home, Dunlambert, Fortwilliam Park, Belfast, on 23 March 1935. He also served as a Deputy Lieutenant and director of the

Bank of Ireland Bank of Ireland Group plc ( ga, Banc na hÉireann) is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the Bank occupies a unique position in Iris ...

Death and legacy

He was buried on 26 March in

Belfast City Cemetery Belfast City Cemetery ( ga, Reilig Chathair Bhéal Feirste) is a large cemetery in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. It lies within the townland of Ballymurphy, between Falls Road and Springfield Road, near Milltown Cemetery. It is maintained by ...

. The virtues of company law are such that despite the ruin of Workman, Clark & Co. Ltd. Sir George died a millionaire. Upon his death his son, Sir George Clark, 2nd Baronet, succeeded to the baronetcy; he was a Cambridge-educated naval architect and soldier (d. 1950).

Arms

References

Bibliography

The Peerage.com
* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, George, 1st Baronet 1861 births 1935 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Deputy Lieutenants of Belfast Politicians from Edinburgh Members of the Senate of Northern Ireland 1925–1929 Members of the Senate of Northern Ireland 1929–1933 Members of the Senate of Northern Ireland 1933–1937 People educated at Merchiston Castle School Businesspeople from Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party members of the Senate of Northern Ireland Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Belfast constituencies (1801–1922) UK MPs 1906–1910 Irish Unionist Party MPs Burials at Belfast City Cemetery