J. R. Clarke

Joseph Robinson Clarke was born in Stockton-on-Tees in 1840. He followed his Father’s trade as an engine driver until the mid-1860s, when he joined his younger brother John in establishing a photography business in his home town. He moved to Thirsk in 1870, first on St. James Green, later in Finkle Street and finally in Ingramgate by the bridge over Cod Beck.

Although much of his work was studio-based, the recent invention of the dry plate method freed photographers from the darkroom and Clarke set about covering practically every public event in and around Thirsk. His work is characteristically full of detail and carefully composed, while often looking entirely natural.

Many of Clarke’s photographs can be seen in the Museum’s archives as prints, postcards and ‘cartes de visite’. They provide us with a valuable social history record of the first quarter of the twentieth century.