Sir George Clark, 1st Baronet
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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 Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
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,
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
. He was apprenticed to
Harland and Wolff Harland & Wolff Holdings plc is a British shipbuilding and Metal fabrication, fabrication company headquartered in London with sites in Belfast, Arnish yard, Arnish, Appledore, Torridge, Appledore and Methil. It specialises in ship repair, ship ...
in Belfast and, in 1877, opened his own shipyard on the
river Lagan The River Lagan (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ''Lagan Wattèr'') is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs 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. During the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
the shipyard concentrated on Admiralty 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 and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...
firm; Henry Matier & Co. The couple had two sons. The family hosted computing pioneer Dora Metcalf in Belfast when she was introducing
comptometer The Comptometer was the first commercially successful key-driven mechanical calculator, patented in the United States by Dorr Felt in 1887. A key-driven calculator is extremely fast because each key adds or subtracts its value to the accumulat ...
y machines into the shipyards in 1916.


A leading Belfast Unionist

In a 1907 by-election he became Member of Parliament 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 Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...
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 or ...
. 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 () 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 Irish banking history. At ...
.


Death and legacy

He was buried on 26 March in Belfast City Cemetery. The virtues of
company law Corporate law (also known as company law or enterprise law) is the body of law governing the rights, relations, and conduct of persons, companies, organizations and businesses. The term refers to the legal practice of law relating to corp ...
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 Nobility from Renfrewshire Politicians from Paisley, Renfrewshire Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Deputy lieutenants of Belfast 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