Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

Ralph Clark (30 March 1755 or 1762 – June 1794) was a British officer in the

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

, best known for his diary spanning the early years of British settlement in Australia, including the voyage of the

First Fleet The First Fleet were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the History of Australia (1788–1850), European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessel ...

. Born in

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 ...

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 ...

, Clark saw service in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

before volunteering for the voyage to Australia. Arriving in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in January 1788, he filled a number of roles in the newly established colony, including serving on picket duty, guarding convicts, and on the Criminal Court. Having been temporarily promoted to the rank of

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

, Clark was sent to

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

aboard HMS ''Sirius'' in March 1790, which was subsequently wrecked off the island's coast. After a period on the island, he returned to England aboard HMS ''Gorgon'', arriving in June 1792, and was then posted to the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

to fight in the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

, dying in a battle off the coast of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

in June 1794. Clark's diaries, although never intended to be published, provide some of the most personal information about the early convict era in Australia, and are currently held by the

State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...

Biography

Clark was born in

, to Ann (née Man) and George Clark.Hine, Janet D. (1966)
Clark, Ralph (1762–1794)
– Australian Dictionary Biography. Retrieved 19 November 2012.Clark's exact date of birth is unclear. It is known from his diaries that he celebrated his birthday on 30 March, but different sources suggest that he was either born in 1755 or 1762. He enlisted as a second lieutenant in the 27th Company of the

on 25 August 1779, having previously been in the "Dutch service".Clark's period in the "Dutch service" is only known from a single diary entry, that of 9 July 1787, which noted that he "Saw John Johnson my old companion in the Dutch Service". It is unclear whether "Dutch service" refers to time spent in the Navy of the Dutch Republic, or time spent fighting the Dutch in the

Fourth Anglo-Dutch War The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (; 1780–1784) was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic. The war, contemporary with the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), broke out over British and Dutch disagreements on t ...

, both of which fit the diary's chronology. Clark saw service in the

, and at the end of his service returned to live in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, although he was assigned to the

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

division of the marines. Having transferred to the 6th Company in 1783, he married Betsy Alicia Trevan, of Efford,

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, on 23 June 1784, with a son, Ralph Stuart Clark, born on 23 August 1785.The name of Clark's son is sometimes transcribed as "Ralph Stewart Clark". In order to further his chances for promotion (and thus a higher salary), Clark volunteered to serve in the

New South Wales Marine Corps The New South Wales Marine Corps was a battalion-sized unit of the British Marine Forces created to guard convicts aboard the First Fleet to Australia, and to preserve "subordination and regularity" in the colony of New South Wales. Establi ...

, which accompanied the

, which was transporting convicts to a

penal colony A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer ...

that was to be established in

. He was posted to the ''Friendship'', which held mainly female convicts.Journals of the First Fleet: Ralph Clark (1755? – 1794)
– State Library of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 November 2012. Arriving with the fleet in January 1788, Clark filled a number of roles in the colony, from guarding convicts to occasionally serving on the Criminal Court, which he heavily disliked. When not on duty, he went fishing and shooting, collecting a number of specimens which he sent back to England. To supplement their meagre rations, officers were allowed to keep vegetable gardens, which were tended by convicts. Clark established one such garden on a small island in

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

, which would subsequently be known as Clark Island.The garden which Clark established was quite unsuccessful, with most of the produce being quickly stolen. In February 1790, the exasperated Clark noted in his journal that ''"some Boat had landed since I had been there last and taken away the greatest part … it is impossible for any body to attempt to raise any Garden stuff here, before it comes to perfection they will steal it."'' To provide some entertainment for the colony, Clark was asked by the governor,

Arthur Phillip Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first Governor of New South Wales, governor of the Colony of New South Wales. Phillip was educated at Royal Hospital School, Gree ...

, to stage a play using convict actors, with ''

The Recruiting Officer ''The Recruiting Officer'' is a 1706 play by the Irish writer George Farquhar, which follows the social and sexual exploits of two English Army officers, the womanising Plume and the cowardly Brazen, in the town of Shrewsbury (the town where ...

'' chosen as the play to be performed. He and the convicts' experiences were later the subject of a novel, '' The Playmaker'', by

Thomas Keneally Thomas Michael Keneally, Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his historical fiction novel ''Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler' ...

, and a play, '' Our Country's Good'', by

Timberlake Wertenbaker Timberlake Wertenbaker is a British-based playwright, screenplay writer, and translator who has written plays for the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and others. She has been described in ''The Washington Post'' as "the doyenne of po ...

. Clark was also quite friendly with local Aboriginal tribes (specifically the

Eora The Eora (; also ''Yura'') are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. Eora is the name given by the earliest European settlers to a group of Aboriginal people belonging to the clans along the coastal area of what is now known as ...

), particularly compared to some of his companions. At one point, in February 1790, he was asked by the governor to "capture" two Aboriginal tribesmen who he had traded with earlier, but refused for fear their children would starve.The Journal and Letters of Lt. Ralph Clark
– The University of Sydney. Retrieved 19 November 2012. Following the death of Captain John Shea in February 1789, Clark was promoted to fill his role, and temporarily given the rank of

by Major Robert Ross. The following year, he was chosen to sail to

with Ross, departing Sydney aboard HMS ''Sirius'' on 6 March 1790. Owing to the lack of a natural harbour on the island, ''Sirius'' was forced to anchor off the coast, and land men and stores via smaller boats. The ship was wrecked on an offshore reef shortly afterward, although there were no deaths. On Norfolk Island, Clark was made quartermaster general and keeper of the stores at Sydney Bay, and was later put in charge of the settlement at Charlotte Field. In April 1791, he was responsible for laying out the settlement at Queensborough. During his time on the island, Clark impregnated a female convict, Mary Branham, with a daughter, Alicia (named after Clark's wife), born in July 1791. After a further period on the island, Clark was sent back to Sydney, arriving in December 1791 accompanied by Branham, and then back to England on HMS ''Gorgon'', arriving in June 1792. Upon his return, he was posted to the 100th Company, based in Chatham,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. Although the appointment was made in October 1792, he did not join the company until January the following year, possibly due to illness or an extended period of leave. Clark left for the

in May 1793, aboard HMS ''Tartar'', bringing his eight-year-old son with him to serve as a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

. Clark's wife died early in 1794, whilst giving birth to a

stillborn Stillbirth is typically defined as fetal death at or after 20 or 28 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the source. It results in a baby born without signs of life. A stillbirth can often result in the feeling of guilt or grief in the mother. T ...

child. Clark himself was

killed in action Killed in action (KIA) is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their personnel at the hands of enemy or hostile forces at the moment of action. The United States Department of Defense, for example, ...

some time in June 1794 off the coast of

, while his son died of yellow fever towards the end of the same month.The exact dates of death of both Clark and his son are uncertain, although 18 and 30 June are considered likely. When Clark's papers were sold, it was advertised that he and his son had died on the same day, although it is likely that this was a fabrication to encourage sale.

Diary

Spanning a period from 9 March 1787 to 17 June 1792, although with occasional gaps, Clark's diaries are some of the most personal writings still in existence from the early history of the colonisation of Australia. His original journal is thought to have contained three notebooks, although the second of these, spanning the period from 11 March 1788 to 14 February 1790, is thought to have been lost. Clark also had a letterbook, in which many of his letters, both to his family and to other officers, were pasted. These letters were generally written in a more formal style. After his death, Clark's diaries and papers were preserved by his wife's family in Devon. They were auctioned by his great-nephew, Frederick Adolphus Trevan, at

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

in London in May 1914, along with some of the letters of

Captain Cook Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. He complet ...

. Purchased by the

as three separate volumes, the journal was disbound during the 1920s and compiled into a single volume. However, in 2002, funded by the Nelson Meers Foundation, the pages were removed from their mounts and rebound into four volumes with soft

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. It is often distinguished from parchment, either by being made from calfskin (rather than the skin of other animals), or simply by being of a higher quality. Vellu ...

covers. The diary was also digitised.Collection Record Details: First Fleet Collection of journals, correspondence and drawings, ca. 1786-1802, held in the Mitchell and Dixson Libraries
– State Library of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 November 2012. The journal is written in ink on thin, unruled diary paper, and is 312 pages in length. Leaving his wife and son, Clark began the first of his diaries a month before the First Fleet departed

, on 13 May 1787. The writing in the diaries is very personal and informal, and was never intended for publication. Clark was extremely homesick, and longed to see his wife and son, writing as early as the second day of the voyage: ''"Oh my God all my hoppes'' ic''are over of seeing my beloved wife and son"''. Like many of his fellow officers, he was aggrieved at the level of comfort and support offered to the convicts, noting ''"I believe few Marines or Soldiers going out on a foreign Service under Government were ever better, if so well provided for as these Convicts are"''. On arrival in

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point a ...

, Clark was dismayed at the unsuitable conditions, which were far from what had been promised in England: ''"if we are obliged to settle here there will not a soul be alive in the course of a year"''. With the site for settlement subsequently moved to

Sydney Cove Sydney Cove (Eora language, Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central ...

, Clark remained distressed by the living conditions experienced by himself and his fellow officers, expressing in a letter to his family in England: ''"I never slept worse, my dear wife, than I did last night, what with the hard cold ground, spiders, ants and every vermin you can think of was crawling over me"''. During the colony's early years, little food was produced, and the rations brought from England were soon consumed, leaving the colony in near starvation. Clark wrote ''"God help us. If some ships dont'' ic''arrive, I dont know what will"''. Supplies finally arrived in June 1790, on '' Lady Juliana''. Clark often expressed pleasure at the flogging of convicts, although rarely performed the punishment himself. After one incident, in which a particularly troublesome female convict, Elizabeth Dudgeon, was punished for insulting a guard officer, he noted ''"she has long been fishing for it, which she has at last got to her heart's content"''. He did, however, occasionally empathise with the convicts, especially when they were mistreated. Shortly after landing on Norfolk Island, Clark and Robert Kellow came across some convicts, including some women with their children, who had been forced to sleep in the open far from the main townsite, adequate accommodation being lacking: ''"on the Road we met a great many of the Convicts both Men and Women Particular the women that have young children Who told me that the have been obliged to Sleep in the woods all night for the could not get into Town, poor Devils how they are Kick dabout from one place to another"''. Unusually for the time, Clark was effectively a teetotaller, preferring to drink only lemonade. He often privately chastised his fellow officers' drinking habits, boasting in his diary that he had only been intoxicated once—at his wedding.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Ralph 1794 deaths 18th-century births 18th-century Royal Marines personnel 18th-century Scottish diarists Australian theatre directors Australian theatre managers and producers British military personnel killed in the French Revolutionary Wars Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Norfolk Island penal colony administrators Military personnel from Edinburgh Writers from Edinburgh Royal Marines officers Scottish military personnel killed in action First Fleet

Biography

Diary

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography