The custom of giving Bibles to young people as gifts on special
occasions, though perhaps now on the wane, was once a common practice. Its teachings made it an ideal present to
guide and equip those youngsters in their faith. Sisters Lillian and Beatrice Clarke were two
such young people. Well over a century
later, their Bibles, now rather worn, survive along with their personalized inscriptions.
Beatrice Maude Clarke (1896-1987) and her sister Lillian
Clarke (1888-1910) were the only daughters
among the five children born to Albert
and Sarah Clarke Luton, England. Lillian
was third born and Beatrice last born of this family engaged in England’s straw
hatting industry for which Luton was the centre at the time. The Bible presentations occurred on two
separate dates in 1906; the significance of the first date is lost to time while
date of the second marked a turning point in the life of the family.
Lillian’s Bible was presented to her on March 19, 1906 by her first
cousin Rose Clarke. As an only child
born in 1885 to Joseph and Jane Clarke (Joseph was one of her father Albert’s
many brothers), Rose, one might speculate, was perhaps a close girlhood
companion to her cousin Lillian, three years her junior. For whatever reason, 20-year-old Rose decided
on that date in March of 1906 to present her 17-year-old cousin with a
Bible. The inscription reads “To Lily
with love From Rose”, followed by a Bible passage before the handwritten date “March
19.3.1906.” The Bible passage from Psalm
37.5 reads “Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him and he shall bring
it to pass.
As it turns out, Lillian would have limited time to commit
herself to the Lord. She was to die
unmarried and childless just over four years later in London, Ontario,
Canada. Having been operated on for a
burst appendix, she never recovered.
Family lore is that she died of peritonitis because of a surgical sponge
mistakenly left in her by the operating surgeon. Her childhood Bible from Cousin Rose had,
however, been brought with her when she immigrated to Canada. Passed on to her sister Beatrice after
Lillian’s death, the Bible has now been passed down several more
generations.
The second Bible, that given to Beatrice Clarke while still living in
England, was from her uncle William Phillip Clarke, yet another one of father
Albert’s many siblings. Known always as
Uncle Phillip, he may have considered Beatrice a favourite niece, given that she
bore the same name as Phillip’s own first daughter born in 1889 and after whom
his niece may have been named. Whatever the affection between the two, Uncle
Phillip no doubt considered that a Bible would be both a suitable gift and likely
also a remembrance of him on the eve of a momentous time in the life of
Beatrice and her family. The inscription
reads “A Farewell Present to Beaty From Uncle Phillip.” The use of the affectionate diminutive Beaty
is yet another indication that Beatrice may have been considered a special
niece.
Although no date is provided with the inscription, it most
certainly was September of 1906, likely September 13th. Beatrice and her family would sail September
14th, 1906 on the RMS Virginian to begin a new life in Canada across
the Atlantic. Uncle Phil’s gift would
come with her. The original nicely penned inscription was added to over 24
years later when Beatrice penned her own inscription reading “and to my Son
Jack Jr Arntfield Xmas 1930”. Just as
with Lillian’s Bible, this Bible too has now been passed down through subsequent generations.
The reality of the emigration of the Clarkes in 1906 was
that, as with most such departures in those
days, such a decision meant saying
good bye forever to loved ones. In both
Lillian and Beatrice’s case this meant their many aunts, uncles, and cousins as
well as a still living maternal grandmother.
Cousin Rose’s and Uncle Phil’s gifts, apart from being something any
decent young lady of the day would value, would also serve as one of the few
tangible links to the past that both sisters would retain for the rest of their
lives --- in Lillian’s case a short life ending four years later and in
Beatrice’s case a long one ending eighty-one years later. Now time worn and fragile, the Bibles and the
stories behind them provide future generations with linkage to these more than
a century old moments in time of their family history.
David Arntfield
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