#On This Day 22nd December

On this day, we are reflecting on Emily Clark, my great-great-aunt, who was buried in Rye on December 22, 1876. Her story is somewhat short, as was her life.

The year Emily was born and died saw several major events:

March 7: Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone in the United States and made the first phone call on March 10.

May 1: The Settle-Carlisle Railway opened to passenger traffic, marking a significant development in transportation.

July 14: The British battleship HMS Thunderer experienced a boiler explosion during a full-power sea trial near Portsmouth, England, resulting in the deaths of 45 sailors and injuries to 40 others.

She was born in 1876 in Rye, Sussex, England, to Richard Douch Clark (1842-1905) and Margaret Anne Hoad (c. 1837-1907). She was baptized on October 9, 1876, and tragically passed away 2 months later. Emily was the twelfth of fourteen children in her family and had a twin brother named Ernest, who also died in 1876 and was buried on December 28. It's heartbreaking to think of the grief their parents must have felt losing both twins during the Christmas season. They named another daughter Emily, born in December 1877, and another son Ernest, born in May 1879.  It was quite common then to name the next child by the name of the one that has just died but it makes searching information on ancestors a challenge of not muddling records between the two.

Throughout history, December 22 has seen several notable events:

1880: The death of George Eliot (real name Mary Anne Evans), a leading novelist and poet of the Victorian era.

1919: The Government of Ireland Act of Power (Home Rule for Ireland) was signed by King George V, dividing Ireland into two parts, each with its own parliament.

1943: The children's writer Beatrix Potter passed away. Her house at Hill Top, Sawrey, is open to the public today.

It is obvious that Emily never had the chance to witness these events or read the works of these famous authors. Nonetheless, she is part of our family history.

Burial of Emily and Ernest Clark in Rye, Sussex