This directory contains information and documents about the 5th woman known to have mothered a child by Anthony Jacques Cheeper/Clarke.
For further details of Amy’s very interesting husband Anthony, including his families with other wives, see the AJCheeper/Clarke directory.
The only evidence we have of the relationship between Amy and Anthony is:
In the previous entry in the official record (on the birth certificate of Earl Rudolph Clarke, born 20 Jan 1904), he had been shown as Anthony Clarke. But he appears to have been known to Amy, and presumably to others, at least in Sheffield, as Anthony Cheeper. There's no evidence that he had been known to anyone as Cheeper since 22-26 September 1877, 32 years earlier.
The fact that the child's surname is the same as the father's implies that Anthony and Amy were married. By then, both of Anthony's wives were deceased, so he was free to marry. But no entry has been found in the marriage register.
Anne has pieced together an amount of information about Amy Clark. Amy was born in 1879 at Eton, Bucks, and her parents were William J Clark and Christina Clark formerly Adams. William's occupation was shown as Commission Agent. According to subsequent census entries, William was born in Slough Bucks., and Christina in Yeovil, Somerset.
Amy is in the 1881 census, at the age of 1, with her parents and sister Lily F, 5, at 81 Waddon New Road, Croydon, Surrey. Amy, Lily and William were shown as having been born in Slough, Bucks. In the 1901 census, Amy was working in the Bucks County Asylum at Stone Near Aylesbury. She was shown as being 20, and born in Hartwell, Bucks. Her parents and the her four younger siblings were still in Croydon, and William is shown as a Tram Car Driver.
Amy was 31 at the time of Donald's birth and death in 1910. How she met Anthony is unclear, but open to speculation.
When Anthony abandoned the Kate Davidge household is unknown, but it seems likely that it was 1904 or soon thereafter. From 1891 until at least 1904, Anthony had his household (or, for some of the time, one of his two households) within a 4-mile radius that included Lewisham, Norwood and Croydon. Amy's family lived in Croydon. It's possible that Amy moved back from the Bucks asylum in 1901-04, at 22-25, and became a maid in the Davidge household. (If so, then she first knew him as Anthony Clarke). Alternatively they may have met her after he'd abandoned the Kate Davidge household, between mid-1904 and mid-1909.
When they moved to Sheffield, and how long they were there, is unclear. How long he sustained the relationship with Amy is also unclear. He entered a workhouse in York 6 years after Donald's birth, in 1916, at 79; and he'd been running fairly hard for a long time. So he may already have been at a fairly low ebb when he was with Amy in London and Sheffield.
We haven't found Amy's death certificate.
Here's a sidenote: Of the 4 children who Anthony passed his name on to:
We're missing a lot of information; and we'd love to know more!
This a page within Roger Clarke's Family Web-Site
Contact: Roger Clarke and/or Anne Kratzmann
Created: 18 October 2005; Last Amended: 1 September 2006
