I've found the record of Joshua Clarke (1795) in the 1851 census, so have the details of him and his family on this date. Joshua is Clare's 4 x great-grandfather.
In 1851 Joshua and his wife Mary Ann lived at 18 Barstow Street, Leeds, with their three children Margaret, Godfrey, and John. Joshua and Mary Ann are described as shopkeepers, so I'm hoping to find mention of their shop in other records of the time maybe this book1. Joshua looks to be 56 at the time of the census (hard to read) and was born in Alvesthorpe. His wife is perhaps 57 and was born in Methley. Margaret is 26, John is 24 and Godfrey 21 and all were born in Wakefield. Margaret has no profession entered here, but John is a printer and Godfrey is a tailor (though seems to be written taylor).
They also had two visitors at the time of the census; James Deacon aged 23 a music professor from Greater Manchester, and Hugh Carrigan a commercial traveller aged 26 from York.
Having a music professor in the house makes them sound quite prosperous to me, was it for the daughter Margaret? Did they have a piano in the house?
I've looked up the address, assume it is demolished now but in this picture from the 1950s2 it doesn't look like they'd have a lot of room...
More investigation to be done.
Should I say "1795-"? This makes it look like he's still alive, clearly he's not, but I don't know his death date. It's after 1851 anyway.
💬 Where is Barstow Street, Leeds?
💬 Mention of Joshua Clark + Barstow Street here
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