History of the Clarke Family

Click here to see the Clarke family tree.

The Clarke family had been associated with the parish of Welton since the 1500s but little has been unearthed by way of detail. Through accessing old wills (that are very hard to read), we have found :

• Thomas Clarke Yeoman of Welton 5th August 1646  PROB 11/197/198
• Thomas Clarke husband man of Welton 22nd January 1663  Ref PROB 11/310/90
• Robert Clarke Yeoman of Welton 8th February 1686
• William Clarke gentlemen of Welton 3rd June 1729  PROB 11/630/159
• Joseph Clarke of Welton Northamptonshire 27th November 1773 PROB 11/992/411
• Richard Clarke of Welton 20th December 1774  PROB 11/1003/233
• John Clarke of Welton Place 28th June 1805  PROB 11/1427/306
• John Plomer Clarke of Welton Place 1st December 1826 PROB 11/1719/25 

Once we get to Joseph Clarke, we have much more information – so this history focuses on the family’s impact from that generation.

 By the 17^th and early 18^th centuries, the Clarkes had become prominent local gentry, acquiring estates such as Drayton Manor in Daventry.  Prior to the Clarke era, Welton’s manorial seat (Welton Manor) had shifted locations from the top of the village down to the bottom, but the Clarke family would establish a new principal residence in the village, Welton Place.  

Their rising status culminated in Joseph Clarke (1697 – 1773) serving as the High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1758.  It was in the same year that he embarked on building Welton Place, a stately Georgian mansion with lake and landscaped park, for his family.

Joseph died in 1773 without marrying, and his brother Richard Clarke of Nortoft (near Guilsborough) inherited Welton Place, although he died shortly afterwards in 1774, leaving the estate to his widow.

A change of name

The heir to the Clarke fortune was Richard’s grandnephew (through Joseph and Richard’s sister Mary), John Plomer, who changed his name to John Plomer Clarke (senior) in 1774, a condition of Richard’s will. He was married to Mary Child.  Whilst he attained the Clarke estates at this point, he did not actually own the house until 1804 when he purchased Welton Place from Richards’s widow and became lord of the manor in Welton.  

John Plomer Clarke senior died shortly afterward in 1805, and the house passed to his oldest son John Plomer Clarke junior.  This John was another influential man, who also served as High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1814 and raised the Daventry Volunteers, a part-time local citizen infantry unit.  John Plomer Clarke junior married the daughter of Sir John Nelthorp, Miss Anne Marie Charlotte Nelthorp. When John Plomer Clarke junior died in 1826, the house passed to his brother, Captain Richard Clarke, who continued to manage the estate and farmland at nearby Thrupp.

The debts start to mount

The Clarke family appeared to still be prospering during the nineteenth century, by which time they had bought the estate of Welton Manor and were also still managing farmland just down the road at Thrupp.  The lands they held are those marked in yellow in the map below as surveyed in 1887 by Mr Rogers of Bedford and measured “827 acres, 2 roods and 34 perches” showing the Clarkes to have been extensive landowners.

However, other documents show that they had a huge mortgage and rents from their tenants were often not forthcoming. As a result, the debts mounted. 

In the 1820s the family were forced to put part of the estate up for auction but eventually were able to take out another mortgage to cover the debts. Despite the financial difficulties, the Clarke family did what they could for the people of the village, for example building the first school in 1820. This school was adjoined to the White Horse, where the village hall carpark now stands, and this was later handed over to the National Society who were running Church Schools.

During the second half of the nineteenth century, Colonel Richard Trevor Clarke (Captain Richard’s nephew) was making a name for himself in the world of horticulture. He was a founder member of the RHS Scientific Committee, worked with Charles Darwin and is quoted in one of Darwin’s books and spent considerable time developing hybrids of common garden plants and cotton plants. He was also a Northamptonshire County Magistrate. Here he is on the left on the lake at Welton Place.

Some of his hybrids had “Weltonia” in the name. At this link you can see a letter from Charles Darwin to Clarke.

Into the 20th century

In the early twentieth century Captain James Richard Plomer Clarke JP, nephew of Richard Trevor and son of Richard’s brother, Rev John Clarke, resided at Welton Place.  He served as a Justice of the Peace and upheld the family’s social status locally.  

But by 1907 the family chose to let out Welton Place to Major Sebastian Garrard of Royal Jewellers fame.  The Garrards were to stay at Welton Place until 1946. (see The Garrard Family).

The last member of the Clarke family to occupy Welton Place was Captain James’ son, Lt Col Richard Alexander Owen Clarke, a career soldier, and heir who returned to England after the second world war, having been a Japanese prisoner of war. 

In 1947, following the death of Major Garrard, the decision was taken to convert the house into multiple flats. Colonel and Mrs Clarke were still living there, presumably in one of the flats, in the early 1960s with their golden labradors Nerna and Wendy and are remembered by people living today. 

After centuries of continuous family ownership, the Clarke family finally sold the estate to developers in the 1960s. The mansion fell vacant and into dereliction and was demolished in 1972. 

The Clarke name lives on in Clarkes Way, built on the site of the house.