Robert Douglas Clark
(Headmaster 1879 – 1902)
Robert Douglas Clark – “the mighty Clark” to some and the “Father of College” to many others – was one of Maritzburg College’s greatest, most charismatic and beloved headmasters. He was also one of the accomplished scholars of his age and was fluent in many languages, including classical German and Italian. With his profound love of learning, he combined a charming and lively personality, which made him much liked not only by his pupils but by a wide circle of friends. Despite his small physique and poor eyesight, he was a keen horseman and at College he owned a wild steed whose antics had to be calmed by one of the boarders riding him round and round the grounds before Mr Clark set out on any expedition.
Mr Clark was born in 1846 in Benholm, Kincardineshire, Scotland. He entered the Moray House Training College when he was 18, from whence he proceeded to the University of Edinburgh, where he excelled in mathematics and classics. He won the Gold Medal for Scottish Scholarship and faired exceptionally well at New College, Oxford, and at the University of Göttingen in Germany.
Unfortunately, he suffered from poor health, which compelled him to venture forth in search of a warmer climate – he was reputed to have only one lung as well as a glass eye. Mr Clark was nonetheless a very social man and loved playing billiards – the Victoria Club in Maritzburg was his favourite place, and he was living at the Club at the time of his death in May 1917.
However, Europe’s loss was Natal’s gain, and in January 1879 the young Pietermaritzburg High School (later Maritzburg College) gained the services of not just an accomplished scholar but an energetic and creative headmaster.
In 1882, Mr Clark married Caroline Sewell, who was the daughter of Sir William Sewell. She was a kind and sympathetic woman. Of their two surviving children, Douglas was born in 1884 and Florence in 1886. Their third child was born on Christmas Day 1888 and later died the same day. Sadly, Caroline died at the age of 43. Mr Clark was very fond of his children and was very badly affected when his son Douglas, a captain in the King’s Royal Rifles who had been awarded a Military Cross for gallantry earlier in the Battle of the Somme of 1916, was killed later on in that great battle.
With his blindness worsening, Mr Clark retired as Headmaster of College in 1902 at the age of only 56. During a visit to England, he underwent an eye operation, upon which he returned to Maritzburg and practiced briefly as a solicitor.
He remained a devoted supporter of and visitor to the school until his death in the early evening of 18 May 1917, only hours away from his 71st birthday.