{"id":1289,"date":"2022-06-09T16:05:44","date_gmt":"2022-06-09T15:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/monaghan.ie\/museum\/?page_id=1289"},"modified":"2025-02-05T19:24:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T19:24:07","slug":"jj-clarke-mural-castleblayney-co-monaghan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/monaghan.ie\/museum\/jj-clarke-mural-castleblayney-co-monaghan\/","title":{"rendered":"JJ Clarke Mural, Castleblayney Co. Monaghan"},"content":{"rendered":"

JJ or Jack Clarke (1878-1961) was a GP from Castleblayney.\u00a0 While a student in Royal College of Surgeons at the turn of the 20th<\/sup> Century he regularly photographed street scenes in Dublin, Bray, Castleblayney and Bundoran amongst other towns.\u00a0 These photographs are notable for their aesthetic quality, candid nature, as social documentary, and for their technical prowess.\u00a0 They are a superb record of Edwardian Ireland and the Clarke Photography collection is considered amongst the most valued collections in the National Library of Ireland.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig 1. Photograph of JJ Clarke
Likely taken while JJ was practising as a GP in Lurgan (1910-20) or during his time as a Ships doctor with the Blue Funnel Line (throughout the 1920s).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The majority of photographs in the collection span a 10-year period between 1900 and 1910 and while Clarke is known to have had a lifelong love of photography, sadly very little else remains.\u00a0 He travelled widely – having worked as a ships doctor with the Blue Funnel Line shipping company – collecting many fine objects and ephemera from the Dutch East Indies, Japan and Africa amongst other places.\u00a0 It is very likely that he took photographs while on his travels abroad, but sadly we haven\u2019t found any.<\/p>\n

There are still some in the community who remember Dr JJ Clarke and recall a kind reserved gentleman with a very dry wit.\u00a0 He was renowned for his love of cars and used to drive a Ford Zephyr down the middle of York Street at a leisurely pace, a habit which earned him the nickname \u2018Fangio\u2019.<\/p>\n

In 2019 an exhibition of Clarkes photographs was produced by \u00cdontas Arts in Castleblayney along with a theatrical outdoor recreation of scenes taken from photographs in Castleblayney \u2013 Streets of JJ Clarke – and a short one act play \u2018Dr Jack\u2019. This programme of work was supported by The Arts Council and Creative Ireland programme.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Fig
Fig 2. Clarke Family Photograph taken in ancestral home at Cortial, Kilkerley.
This photograph was taken in 1931 and features JJ on right side with his father also Dr. John Clarke on the left, his sister May (seated on left with glasses) and foster sister Birdy Duffin standing in centre. The remaining people in the photograph are JJ\u2019s cousins who lived in the ancestral home at Cortial between Inniskeen and Dundalk. Incidentally the toddler sitting on his mother\u2019s knee is Brian Clarke a retired civil servant now living in Dublin. Brian donated the collection to the National Museum in 2000 and a great deal of what we know about Clarke was shared by Brian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

CLARKE\u2019S CORNER<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once referred to as \u2018Clarkes Corner\u2019<\/em> at the junction where York Street meets Thomas Street, the preferred site is at the gable end of the house where Jack grew up in the late 19th<\/sup> Century. Clarke would ultimately retire to this house in the late 1930s after years of living abroad eventually dying of pneumonia in 1961 at which point the house was gifted to his half-sister \u2018Birdy\u2019 Duffin.\u00a0 After Birdy died, the house was sold in 1973 and the contents within auctioned.\u00a0 Such was the extent of valuable objects in the house, help was sought from Sotheby\u2019s auction house in London to properly value items.\u00a0 It was around this time that the photographs and glass plates were retrieved from the house by extended family members. These would eventually be gifted to the National Library of Ireland in 2000 and number about 300 items in the Clarke Collection.<\/p>\n

One of the most eye-catching photographs taken by JJ Clarke happened outside his home on York Street.\u00a0 Positioned looking back towards the centre of town, Clarke captured a fascinating image of a group of children, some barefoot making their way up York Street in the direction of St Marys Church, possibly on their way to school see FIG 3.<\/p>\n

\"Fig
Fig 3. Children walking up York Street past the Clarke house sometime in the early 1900s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Completed
Fig 4. Completed JJ Clarke Mural<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JJ or Jack Clarke (1878-1961) was a GP from Castleblayney.\u00a0 While a student in Royal College of Surgeons at the turn of the 20th Century he regularly photographed street scenes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1289","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nJJ Clarke Mural, Castleblayney Co. Monaghan - Monaghan County Museum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/monaghan.ie\/museum\/jj-clarke-mural-castleblayney-co-monaghan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"JJ Clarke Mural, Castleblayney Co. 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