|
OBITUARY
Margaret Lovell Clarke 1918 -2004
|
Portsmouth High School 1968-1978
Reflections on Margaret’s life
2 April 2004
Margaret was a warm hearted and generous woman, who shared her life with many people. This is a very important occasion today. We will be able to talk with each other afterwards. Perhaps for the only time, people from many different parts of Margaret’s life will be together.
I am Anne Clarke, Margaret’s niece. I also had the privilege of being one of her goddaughters. My sister Sue read the poem. The reading from Wisdom was Margaret’s choice for her funeral and was read by Roger, Margaret’s nephew. Simon, who read the John passage, represents the next generation; he is the eldest of 11 of Margaret’s great nephews and nieces.
My father is Maurice, Margaret’s brother. At the age of 92, he is now the only remaining brother. Maurice taught Margaret, at the age of 5, to knit, using two sticks and a piece of string. Margaret became an expert knitter, completing very complicated jerseys. If anything needed doing, Margaret would do it.
Margaret was born in 1918, the only girl in a clergy family with 5 boys, nearly all older. She recently wrote an account of her childhood for the church magazine called ‘A Vicarage Childhood’. Margaret remembered her first day at school vividly, sitting on the floor gazing at a capital A on the blackboard. The excitement of learning to read was a turning point. She would secretly read under the bed covers as a child, and all her life Margaret loved reading.
Margaret’s upbringing was fairly austere. The family was in Leeds from 1923. Margaret described being lucky to have a garden to play in and her brothers encouraging her to climb trees. Her maternal grandmother was shocked, but as Margaret wrote, ‘But what did she expect? My brothers had trained me to climb and climb I did.’ Later she took pupils mountaineering and rock climbing. Her paternal grandfather, the formidable Archbishop of Melbourne, deeply offended Margaret’s parents by describing the family as ‘five rough boys and a hoydenish girl!’ Margaret’s family shared many pastimes, singing and playing instruments, performing, setting off on expeditions, games, much walking, tobogganing, picnics and fun.
At the age of 7, Margaret spent two years living with a landed family in a Big House. She accepted this interlude as similar to her brothers who were sent away to school. She described the experience as being in a completely different world. There she had excellent social and academic training, lived in unspoilt country, and enjoyed robust health away from the constant coughs and colds around in Armley. Margaret lost 10 conduct marks by knocking over her companion, the boy of her age, who kept goading Margaret by calling her ‘Little gutter gal’. This spirited nature was always with Margaret. She was never afraid of people.
After this, Margaret went to Leeds High School. Kitty Brett, who was in the same form, writes of Margaret as a remarkable person. Kitty remembers going to Armley vicarage at Christmas to see the Clarke family perform their pantomime. During her time at Leeds High School, Margaret suffered from depression, something she was prone to all her life. This vulnerability never got in the way of her achievements and relationships.
Margaret gained a place at the Royal College of Music, qualified in music, being a singer and viola player. Margaret taught music for many years in different places, Essex, Bristol, Worcester. She had high expectations of her pupils. Sarah Dunne, a fellow teacher at that time, remembers Margaret as a delightful person, both in personality and appearance. Sarah knew then that Margaret would add distinction to any community in her life. Margaret always put energy and dedication into whatever she was doing. Her musical talents continued all her life. Here she was playing in a quartet, singing with the Headington singers and church choir and participating in a summer music camp.
At the age of 40, Margaret went to St. Hilda’s College, Oxford, being awarded a degree in modern languages. She then became a headmistress of St. Winifred’s School in Llanfairfechan, North Wales. The joy for my family was staying in her house for a month in the summer holidays and exploring North Wales, which has given me a deep and lasting love of Wales. The school was closed after three years. Margaret then became the headmistress of Portsmouth High School. She was in that post from 1968-1978 and it was the apex of her career in education. The current head, Peg Hulse, is unable to be here today, but reports of Margaret’s wonderful reputation in Portsmouth. She had a powerful impact on a community which remembers her with affection more than thirty years later. The Chief Executive of the Girls’ Public Day School Trust, Barbara Harrison, wrote how they valued the leadership and vision Margaret showed as a head. Mary Abraham, a fellow head of that time tells us that Margaret always showed elegance and poise in how she conducted herself, but also relished a sense of fun. All of us can remember Margaret’s sense of fun, her ebullience.
Margaret had 25 years of happy and fulfilled retirement. She used her organising skills in many ways. She travelled a lot, including a rigorous trip to India. Con and John Brown met her in Israel in 1992, where Margaret’s quiet devotion was an inspiration. Margaret kept in touch with friends in Germany, France and Italy, visiting them regularly.
Margaret was valued as a strong family member and will be deeply missed by her family both here and overseas. Her brother Cyril lived in Australia and her brother David in America and she visited their families as much as possible. She was kind hearted and approachable, even though we have to say she was a bit scary when we were younger, formidable and quite exacting. She had very high expectations of her family too. She often corrected my pronunciation and use of English, and I have had a degree in English since 1973. She mellowed considerably over time, being well loved and respected by all in her family.
Margaret was energetic, upright and disciplined. She described everyone else as walking slower than she wanted to walk, which was symptomatic of her high expectations of herself. She gained an A level in Italian in her seventies. She did crossword puzzles until very recently. She had an athletic physique, for example doing backward dives in the swimming pool at the age of 40. She was a familiar figure cycling in Headington. Her mental faculties were sharp right up to the end of her life. She had enormous grace last month, as she faced her last days with dignity. She said goodbye lovingly to her family and friends where possible. Margaret was very supportive. We are going to miss her encouragement and love. She is now at peace.
Read by Miss A. Clarke at her aunt’s funeral.