Francis Clark and Sons

Francis Clark and Son was an engineering business in the early days of South Australia, founded by Francis Clark (1799–1853), previously a silversmith and magistrate in Birmingham, England.

He founded Francis Clark and Son, importers with his son J. Howard Clark as accountant soon after migrating to Adelaide with his family in 1850, then brought in A. Sidney Clark as manager becoming Francis Clark and Sons, hardware importers and shipping agents of Blyth Street. With the death of the founder in 1853, A. Sidney Clark became sole owner, shifting the company's focus towards real estate, insurance and finance, and in 1871, with the firm of Clark and Crompton (see Henry Clark below), moved to offices in Grenfell Street close to King William Street. It narrowly survived destruction when the adjacent photographic studio of Townsend Duryea was destroyed by fire on 18 April 1875.

They branched out into stationary engines and other machinery around 1875, with day-to-day operations managed by Joseph Horwood in premises on Gresham Street and North Terrace, moving to Blyth Street in 1878. The company was declared insolvent in 1884 but was permitted by its creditors to continue trading. In 1886, with the departure of M Symonds Clark, it became Francis H. Clark & Co. The company ceased trading in 1893.

In 1824 Francis married Caroline Hill (18 August 1800 – 16 September 1877) , a daughter of Sarah (née Lea) (1765–1842) and Thomas Wright Hill (24 April 1763 – 13 June 1851) of Kidderminster, founder of what, under her brother Rowland Hill, became the Hazelwood School, Birmingham. (Rowland Hill was to become famous for inventing penny postage and was important in South Australian history as the Secretary to the Commissioners for the Colonization of South Australia.) Her eldest brother, Matthew Davenport Hill, was Recorder of Birmingham, penal reformer and a supporter of Edward Gibbon Wakefield. Both were members of the South Australian Association.

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