John Allworth Clark was born in 1846 in Adelaide, South Australia. After completing his education, he moved to Sydney where he married Elizabeth Ann Jane Mullarky in 1871. The couple had the following children:
Adelaide Louise, married Perth 1905 to Wesley Castles, died Sydney 1949
May Helen, born Sydney 1877, married Sydney 1910 to Walter Gibson, died Sydney 1966
John Raymond, born Sydney 1875 died Sydney 1954
Stanley Richardson, born Sydney 1878, died Sydney 1964
John Allworth Clark was a wool importer and merchant tailor. Together with his father and brother, he owned menswear shops in Brisbane, Toowoomba and Sydney.
Public life
John Allworth Clark was an alderman representing the North Ward of the Brisbane Municipal Council from 1889 to 1898. He was mayor in 1891. He served on the following committees:
He was a long-time staunch supporter of the temperance movement and a member of temperance organisations such as the Blue Ribbon Association. In 1887 he was appointed secretary of the Anti-Chinese League. From 1892, he was an active promoter of Bowkett Societies, which were non-profit building societies that provided interest-free loans to their members. In 1893, the Brisbane River had a major flood and Clark was chairman of the Flood Relief Committee, which collected and distributed financial aid to the flood victims. He was a founding member of the board of the Victoria Bridge, Brisbane after its reconstruction in 1897. From 1893 to at least 1898 he was chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Commission. In 1894 Clark proposed that women should be allowed to serve as aldermen in the Brisbane Municipal Council. Later after the family had moved to Sydney, Clark was also an alderman of the Petersham Municipal Council in Sydney in 1914, 1920 & 1922 representing the South Kingston ward.
Memorials
Clark Lane is named after John Allworth Clark. The lane was originally the northern end of Eagle Street, which commenced at Creek Street, ran along the river at Petrie Bight to the intersection with Adelaide Street and then north towards Ann Street. John Allworth Clark had one of his business premises on the intersection where Clark Lane converges with Adelaide and Queen Streets.
