| Description | This collection contains the professional and personal papers of Doug Clark and his wife Jean Clark. The majority - correspondence, research and records from professional associations - relate to Doug Clark's work on arachnids at the BM(NH) from the mid-1950s until his death in 1971. There are records from after this date as his wife, Jean, continued correspondence, collecting articles and published Doug's work posthumously. There are more general employment records from the Army and Civil Service as well as photographs (of people and spiders) and personal papers, mainly correspondence and newspaper cuttings.
Jean Clark was also employed by the BM(NH) and published articles in her own right and therefore her records - academic articles, correspondence and collected momentos - also form a small part of this collection. |
| AdminHistory | Douglas John Clark was born on 4 Dec 1929 in Devonport, Plymouth although he spent much of his childhood in Portsmouth, Hampshire. He studied at the Technical School of Building, Portsmouth, Hampshire, 1943-1946; Fulham Men's Institute, Jan-Jun 1951 and University Correspondence College, Burlington House, Cambridge, Feb-Jun 1953.
He was first employed by the BM(NH) in 1947 as an Scientific Assistant in the Diptera Section (flies, mosquitoes, gnats and midges) of Entomology. However, he had to leave the next year to complete two compulsory years of National Service. Therefore, from 1948-1950 he served as a Private in the Royal Army Medical Corps. In 1953 he began studying spider systematics. He was transferred to Zoology Department in 1958 as the Arachnida officer and the next year was promoted to assistant experimental officer at the BM(NH). In 1963 he was made British correspondent for the Centre Internationale de Documentation Arachnologique. In 1964 he was promoted from assistant to the position of experimental officer.
Doug Clark's career was cut short by his sudden death on 29 Sep 1971.
Doug married Jean Boyer on 24 Oct 1953 and they lived in Wimbledon, London.
Bibliography:
Obituary from the Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society, 1972:2.
DF5013/6/4, Doug Clark's Application form for Civil Service. |