Thomas Clark may be a name that most people are unaware of, but many will have heard of Exeter Exchange, also known as Exeter Change on The Strand, London, along with its more famous owners – Gilbert Pidcock, followed by Edward Cross, so we can now add a little more about another occupant of that building – Thomas Clark, who occupied premises there for around 50 years.
So, who was Thomas Clark and how did he become famous in the Georgian period? It is believed that Thomas was born at Balsall Common, near Coventry, Warwickshire in 1737 and there is a baptism in Coventry parish register for a Thomas Clark on 15 May 1737, which is likely, although not definitively his.
Thomas was believed to be the son of a farmer, who at the age of 22 left his home for London, where he got a job as a porter and managed to save some of his earnings, which was dramatically increased upon the death of his father, who left him £200. With his new found wealth he went into partnership which proved to have been a mistake and short lived, as they lost all their money. Thomas went back to work as a porter and started saving again. He was nothing if not resilient.
He eventually saved enough money to buy a shop on the ground floor of Exeter Change, from where he sold various kinds of hardware and walking sticks. Thomas developed a reputation for selling the best products, and that there was no scope for negotiating price. His finances were looking very healthy.
During this period, Thomas married, and the couple went on to have 5 children, four girls – Elizabeth, Mary, Sarah and Martha, and one son, Thomas junior.
Sometime toward the end of the 1780’s, Thomas leased the second floor of Exeter Change and began to exhibit animals etc, as we can see below with his lion and lioness:
The Georgians had a propensity for viewing anything or anyone unusual, many of these so called curiosities being viewed at Exeter Change, be it an animal or a person, visitors did not seem to differentiate between them, they were simply curiosities to pod, poke or stare at, either out of idle curiosity or for their scientific value (completely unacceptable by today’s standards, of course).
One such ‘specimen’ exhibited by Thomas, was ‘The Wonderful Spotted Indian’ who was brought to England by a Mr Dale, who immediately arranged for him to be baptised, at St John, Liverpool, on 11 Jan 1789, as John Richardson, a black boy from Mr Dale, Water Street.
Mr Dale took John to London shortly after this, in fact on 23 April 1789 which coincided with the thanksgiving service for the recovery of George III. Thomas Clark visited the Haymarket where John had been exhibited for a couple of months, and purchased him from Dale, as an indentured apprentice, for 100 guineas.
Thomas then exhibited him at Exeter Change. Somewhere along the line, John’s name was amended to John Richardson Primrose Bobey, but I can find no explanation as to how this came about or why. John, as we see here, suffered from a skin pigmentation condition referred to at the time as ‘piebaldism, we today know this condition to be akin to vitiligo. The public, including royalty and nobility flocked to stare and prod at him. Needless to say, that along with all the other curiosities Thomas possessed, John helped to make Thomas a very wealthy man.
Thomas continued this venture until the start of 1793, at which time he sold the menagerie at Exeter Exchange to Gilbert Pidcock. Whilst selling on his stock to Pidcock, when it came to John’s turn to be sold, he said that he would not be sold like an animal and refused to come forward when instructed by the auctioneer. Pidcock who purchased the wild animals, also purchased the remainder of John’s apprenticeship from Thomas for fifty guineas. John remained with Pidcock for four months, when he found a wife and set off on his own in his own business venture.
Thomas continued to run his shop on the ground floor, with his son Thomas (c1781-1833) and his daughter-in-law, Frances (c1778-1846) taking over much of the day to day work.
In 1791 at St George’s Hanover Square, Thomas’s daughter, Elizabeth married Thomas Hamlet. Hamlet was at that time a seller of cane and sticks and initially occupied premises at Exeter Change. It is difficult to know whether he had his own premises in the building or whether he was an employee of Thomas Clark.
Hamlet and Elizabeth were living on Princes Street, Piccadilly when tragedy struck the family in 1803 when Hamlet’s wife died from her injuries when the Brighton coach overturned. She was buried at St John’s church, Hampstead which left Hamlet to raise his daughter, Elizabeth alone.
Hamlet with his business partner, Francis Lambert (1778-1841) went on to become a silver/goldsmith to the royal family, as we can see in this example of Hamlet’s work in the Royal Collection Trust:
Little is known of Hamlet’s life, apart from a suggestion that he was the ‘natural son of Sir Francis Dashwood’, although I can find no tangible evidence whatsoever as yet to support that claim and the Annual Register, 1854 provided a short biography for him, written upon his death, aged 83 (intestate), which described him as being:
born in Broughton, Cheshire which he left as a poor boy and subsequently kept the celebrated jewellers shop in Coventry Street, Piccadilly, when he was reported to be worth half a million. His only Daughter is said to have refused several coronets. A reverse of fortune overtook him, consequent on the nature of his money transactions, and he finally became bankrupt.
In 1796, again at St George’s Hanover Square, his daughter, Mary, married William Smart with both her married sister Elizabeth and Sarah standing witness to the event. William ran a button shop, which also dealt in an eclectic mix of items including fishing tackle and mathematical instruments, again in Exeter Change.
By 1801, Thomas and his wife, Elizabeth had most of their children married and working with or close by them. Only two children who were unmarried, their daughters, Sarah and Martha, who presumably also worked in the family firm.
In 1804 Thomas’s wife, Elizabeth died and was buried, alongside their daughter, at St John’s, Hampstead.
In 1805, his daughter Martha (c1784-1859), married James Thomas (c1775-1823), again at St George’s Hanover Square. The couple lived just a few houses away from Martha’ father on Upper Belgrave Place, her husband
Despite the loss of his wife, life for Thomas was going well and he was accumulating quite a substantial wealth. Thomas died on 6 September 1816, at his home in Upper Belgrave Place, Pimlico and was buried a few days later at St Luke’s, Chelsea.
His obituary in the Gentleman’s Magazine provided a more personal insight into the man himself:
His dealings were marked with the utmost integrity, and he realised a fortune estimated at £300,000. What he sold was good and the price asked was invariably the price taken. His house was at Pimlico, where he kept a good plain table, and on a Sunday had great pleasure in seeing his family about him, but on his own inner on six days in the week never exceeded 6 pence, and 2 pence for glass of gin and water. Morning and evening saw him on his old hose, as well known at Charing Cross as King Charles himself. Latterly, however, he came to town and returned in his son’s carriage. Though addicted to the accumulation of money, it was by honourable means.
It was also reported that
When Thomas became infirm, he was allowed by King George the special privilege of riding across St James’s Park to Buckingham Gate, his house being in Pimlico.
Thomas’s will appears to have been proven on 8 January 1817 by the oath of his son, Thomas. If the figure of £300,000 was correct then in today’s money that would be about 21 million pounds!
However, a note has been written on the will dated 27 March 1858, stating that it remained unadministered by Thomas Clark junior, deceased, nor by Thomas Hamlet and James Thomas Esquires, deceased (Thomas’s sons in law). It was finally granted to Rev Thomas Clark of Haggerstone (c1809-1865), son of Thomas Clark the younger.
Sources
The Gentleman’s Magazine, Volume 86, Part 2; Volume 120
Thornbury, Walter. Haunted London
Featured Image
Exeter Exchange. View of the south front of Exeter Exchange on the Strand, London; in the centre “Pidcock’s Grand Menagerie of Wild Beasts & Birds”, shops on either side, two swan sculptures on top of a turret on the the far right building.
Watercolour by Charles Tomkins c1801. British Museum
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