Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol II (1901).djvu/36

 Forster, R.N.; and, secondly, to Helen Annette, daughter of Alphonso Doxat of Leytonstone; and left a son, Surgeon-major James Richardson Andrew Clark, who succeeded to his baronetcy.

Clark published no large book, but made many contributions to medical knowledge, besides numerous lectures and addresses. A complete list of his writings, including more than one hundred such publications, has been made by Sheridan Delépine, and is printed in the 'Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology,' 1894, ii. 265. His portrait was painted by Frank Holl, R.A., and by Mr. G. F. Watts, R.A.

[W. S. Church's Memoir in Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. lxxvii. 1894; S. Delépine's Memoir prefixed to list of papers; obituary notices in Lancet and British Medical Journal, 11 Nov. 1893; personal knowledge.]  CLARK, GEORGE THOMAS (1809–1898), engineer and archæologist, was eldest son of George Clark (1777–1848), chaplain to the royal military asylum, Chelsea, by Clara, only surviving daughter of Thomas Dicey of Claybrook Hall, Leicestershire. Samuel Clarke, D.D. (1684–1757) [q. v.], was his great-grandfather.

George Thomas was born in London on 26 May 1809, and was educated at the Charterhouse. Adopting engineering as a profession, he was entrusted by Brunei with the construction of two divisions of the Great Western Railway; the Paddington terminus and the bridges at Basildon and Moulsford being his principal works (cf., Hist. of G. W. R. p. 38). While thus engaged he compiled 'A Guide-book to the Great Western Railway, containing some Account of the Construction of the Line, with Notices of the Objects best worth Attention upon its Course' (London, 1839). This, the first guide to the line, was published officially without his name, and dedicated to Brunei. A more detailed account, which he subsequently wrote, of the geology and archæology of the country traversed by the railway, was published, with numerous illustrations, as 'The History and Description of the Great Western Railway' (London, 1846, fol.); but the only name attached to it was that of the artist, John C. Bourne. About 1843 Clark went to India, where he was employed by the government to report on the sewerage of the native town at Bombay, and afterwards upon the extension of the salt works of the district. Here he advocated the construction of the first railway in India, that from Bombay to Tannah, afterwards merged in the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, for the promoters of which he also reported on the feasibility of an extension through one of the mountain passes of the Sahyadri or Western Ghauts. On account of the climate he declined an offer of the chief engineership of the new line and returned to England. In consequence of an article on sanitary reform which he contributed to the 'Westminster Review,' he was appointed a superintending inspector under the Public Health Act, 1848, and reported on the sanitary condition of a large number of towns and districts, in many of which local boards were formed through his instrumentality (see his numerous Reports to the board published in 1849-51). His success as an inspector was recognised by his promotion to be one of the three commissioners which then constituted the general board of health.

Towards the close of 1852 Clark, however, became trustee of the Dowlais estate and ironworks, under the will of Sir Josiah John Guest [q. v.] For some time previously the works had been carried on at a loss; but having procured the necessary capital and induced Henry Austin Bruce (afterwards Lord Aberdare) [q. v. Suppl.] to share with him the responsibility of the trusteeship, Clark took up his residence at Dowlais and devoted all his energies to the development of the works and the redemption of the estate. As Bruce devoted himself to politics, the whole responsibility of management devolved on Clark alone, whose rare capacity for administration was displayed no less by his rapid mastery of a complicated situation than by his wise selection of heads of departments, chief among whom was his manager, William Menelaus.

To Clark and Menelaus belongs the credit of being the first ironmasters to assist (Sir) Henry Bessemer [q. v. Suppl.] to perfect his process for making malleable iron direct from the ore. The inventor was invited to Dowlais to conduct experiments, with the result that the first rail ever rolled without the intervention of the puddling process was produced at Dowlais. The prompt adoption of Mushet's further invention enabled Dowlais to be first in the field in the production of steel rails, and to enjoy for some time the monopoly of that trade in Wales. The consequent expansion of the industry, and the difficulty of procuring an adequate supply of suitable ores at home, led Clark, in conjunction with the Consett Iron Company and Messrs. Krupp of Essen, to acquire an extensive tract of iron-ore deposits near Bilbao in Spain. To render the works independent of the vicissitudes of the coal trade he also 