William Fordyce Clark

William Fordyce Clark (b. 21 May 1865, Uyeasound, Unst, d. 6 August 1948, Hillsgarth) was a Shetland author and County Councillor. His was the son of Andrew Clark, (b. 13.12.1819, Uyeasound) and Mary Fordyce (b. 22.7.1822, Uyeasound).

He married Elizabeth Grace Bruce, (b.1871, Baltasound) on the 6th of July 1893 in Liverpool. They had two children, both born in Edinburgh where the couple lived, Herbert Erland Fordyce Clark (b. 24.9.1896) and Hilda Mary Fordyce Clark (b.28.8.1900).

Clark was Secretary to the Scottish National Key Registry and Assurance Association Ltd., Edinburgh, but retired to Unst where he died on the 6th of August, 1948 at Hillsgarth.

Gravestone of William Fordyce Clark in Lund cemetery

Clark represented Unst South between 1936 and 1938.

Political Career

• 1936 County Council by-election

Publications

• Northern Gleams: tales of the Shetland Isles, T and J Manson, 1898
• Story of Shetland, Edinburgh & London, 1906
• Shetland Nights: tales from the Land of the Simmer Dim, Edinburgh & London, 1912
• The Shetland Sketchbook: folk-lore, legend, humour, incident, Edinburgh & London, 1930
• Ventures in Verse, illustrated by Fred Irvine was published posthumously in 1951
• The Temptation: a Shetland story (Date?)

External Link

• Bayanne genealogy page

Among a number of others, Shetland Museum has a photo of Fordyce Clark in Baltasound & another with his son Bertie Clark at Underhoull, Westing, Unst