Early Life

Alice Clark was born at Greenbank, Street, Somerset on 1^st August 1874 to Helen Priestman Bright Clark and William Stephens Clark She was one of six children: 

• John Bright Clark (1867-1933)
• Roger Clark (1871-1961)
• Esther Bright Clark – Clark Clothier after marriage (1873-1935)
• Margaret Clark – Clark Gillett after marriage (1878-1962);
• Hilda Clark (1881-1955)

Her family were all Quakers, and also owned the famous shoe brand C & J Clark Ltd. 

Plague by illness

Alice Clark’s poor health meant she was mostly educated at home but as she came from a Quaker family she had an excellent education. She did manage to attend Brighthelmston school and passed the Cambridge matriculation exams but chose not to attend university.

Alice Clark was diagnosed with tuberculosis of the throat and lungs in November 1909. During 1910, she was mostly bedridden and forbidden to speak. Her physician sister Hilda Clark treated her with tuberculin vaccine. 

Alice Clark (1903) Credit Alfred Gillett Trust

Pioneering woman industrialist

Unlike her three sisters, Alice Clark didn’t go on to higher education. Instead, she joined the family business. Alice Clark took charge of the business’s home order office, dealing with customer correspondence and increasingly supervising departments at the Street factory. Her working life was again interrupted by illness in 1897.

In 1904 the family business became a private limited company, C & J Clark Limited. Alice Clark became one of its first five life-directors along with her father, uncle, and both brothers.

Suffrage work

She began champion women's causes from a young age and helped found the Street branch of the Women’s Liberal Association in 1890 at age 16 and was its secretary for 11 years. 

Alice Clark shown on 1911 census

Along with other family members, Alice Clark campaigned for women’s suffrage via the Women’s Liberal Federation – an umbrella for local Women’s Liberal Associations. In addition Alice joined the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies and subscribed to the Women’s Freedom League. In 1907 she joined a Women’s Social & Political Union protest at the House of Commons. She also attempted to refuse payment of taxes.

In 1911, Alice Clark took part in the census resistance suffrage protest. She’d made a full recovery from illness by 1912 and moved to London. In 1912, Alice and her brother Roger Clark established the Friends League for Women’s Suffrage. In 1913, Alice was voted onto the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies’ executive committee. In 1913, she carried the Street Women’s Suffrage banner at the 26^th July Hyde Park rally. However Alice Clark resigned from the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies after it took a patriotic stance towards the war and told its members not to attend a 1915 international peace conference at the Hague. This conflicted with her internationalist and Quaker views.

War relief work

Alice Clark started midwifery training in 1915, aiming to join her sister Hilda Clark with the Friends’ War Victims Relief Committee in France. Due to illness, it’s unclear if she completed this training. She did work in London for the organisation. By the end of 1916, she was working at a refugee hospital in France established by Hilda.

Between 1919 and 1921, Alice Clark worked in London for an Austrian famine relief organisation run in Vienna by Hilda Clark. Alice’s industry experience proved valuable on her trips to Vienna.

Christian Scientist

In her final years, Alice Clark mentally struggled and was affected by the terrible  aftermath of WW1 and her own ill health. She resigned from the Society of Friends (Quakers) and became a Christian Scientist. She helped to organise the Street, Somerset branch of the Church of Christ, Scientist.

Legacy

During her life Alice was involved in Street civic life including disarmament campaigning,and adult education.  Alice Clark also left funds in her will to provide a swimming pool in Street that would be available to women and girls, and Greenbank Pool opened in 1937.

Death

Alice Clark died at her Millfield, Street home on 11^th May 1934 after a long illness. She was cremated on 14^th May at Arnos Vale, Bristol and her ashes were scattered.