CLARK(E): One of the twenty commonest surnames in Scotland and amoung the thirty commonest in England, Clark, spelt with and without a final e, is now amoung the forty commonest surnames in Ireland. This is due largely to the fact that it was brought over by settlers in large numbers but also because some descendants of the Irish sept � Cleirigh adopted Clark as an anglicization of their name rather than Cleary. This interchangeablity of Clark and Cleary was noted by the Registrar of Births in the last century in serveral districts, amoung them Tuam Union, Co. Galway, and Enniskillen Union, Co. Fermanagh. By far the heaviest distribution of Clarkes is in Ulster but even there familiers of the name will be of settler descent and also of � Cleirigh stock as a branch of that sept settled in Co. Donegal and Co. Derry and another settled in Co. Cavan when they left their homeland in Co. Galway. Similarly, while the second heaviest distribution of Clarkes is in Leinster where settle descent is also likely, it must be noted that a branch of the � Cleirigh sept settled in that province too. in Co. Kilkenny. (5)

Trade Names - CLERK - one who could read, and plead the benefit of the clergy. Hence Clark and Clarke.

English Ancestral Names - Other Medieval Occupations - Men who could Read and Write - The number of men living in medieval England who could read and write was pitifully small - perhaps no more than two or three out of every hundred individuals seen in a day's walk about any village, and these would include the higher clergy. The clergy were literate to a man - some of them scholars whose writings are influential even to this day - but they were small in number and mostly sequestered in the great monasteries. The man on the street, the peasant on his farm, the craftsman in his shop, and even many of the petty officials who swarmend over the landscape were not only unable to read or write but, for the most part, had no desire to. This attitude was probably influenced by that of the nobility, who, with rare exceptions, considered the ability "to make hens' tracks on paper" unmanly, and something unworthy. Men were supposed to fight; the pen was a mark of servility - the sword the weapon of the man.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly at times, a new attitude toward learning became apparent, A young fellow might decide that the life of a monk in a nearby monastery had certain attractions. He could fulfill his religious duties, live in a clean and orderly community along with other of similar tastes, and in general receive the respectful attention that clerics were usually accorded. He would apply for admission to the veneralble old abbot, and he might be accepted for a period of probation that would last a year or more before final vows could be taken. At the monastery he would have to spend a few hours each day doing what he was assigned to do; the balance of the day was divided between the chapel and the scriptorium.

In the scriptorium he would see older members of the order copying from huge books with quill pens on sheets of parchment; at the far end of the room other monks with a large assortment of coloured paints and brushes would be decorating the finished pages. His initial duties in this unfamiliar atmosphere of learning might consist of nothing more than holding down the page of one of the copyists or, now and then, one of the sinners. In the course of a few weeks, he would find an opportunity, when Brother John had to leave the room for a few minutes, to pick up the quill and do some experimenting with it. It was quite easy - one just dipped that feather in the jar of black liquid and rubbed its point over the parchment, and, sure enough, it made a line. Thus might have been born a CLARK. In a year of two, he might have learned how to copy the simpler lettering and, with the encouragement of Brother John, even a few words of his own. Parchment was extremely hard to come by. It was made right in the monastery and every available piece was needed by the monks in their lifelong labour to reproduce the Scriptures. He might somehow acquire a small piece, however, that, if bleached, could be used over and over again.

This young man might go on with his training for the full period of his novitiate and become and ordained priest and even ultimately an abbott or a prior; on the other hand, he might decide the life was not for him and so, before it was time to take his final vows, he would leave the austerities of the monastery for the world outside. He would take with him, however, a knowledge of writing that he could use for the rest of his life.

As far as name are concerned, the Latin word clericus seems to be the root. The word originally meant "priest", and since priests had long been associated with reading and writing, it is easy to see how people got into the bhabit of calling any man who could wirte a cleric. This was soon shortened to clerc, and before long it was clerk and eventually clark. For a great many years, the people of England learned to distinguish a CLARK by the tiny leather bottle of ink that he carried in his belt along with his quill. The very earlist record of the name found was still dressed in its original Latin form, Richerius -clericus. This was in 1086. A little later, in 1205, a Reginald Clerc and in 1272, a John le Clerk. BUNCLARKE, from the Old French words bon and clerc, meant " good clerk."

Var's: Bunclarke, Clark , Clarke, Cleric Clerk, Clerke.
(7)

Researching:� -� Alex E. Clark� m. 1924 Bowral NSW -� Jessie M. Savell b.1898 Bowral NSW

��������������������� -� Charles Clark m. 1894 Orange NSW -� Sarah Savell� b.1860

��������������������� -�� Doris Maud Clark� m. 1920 Broken Hill NSW - Albert Charles Grimm
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