Old Photograph Parish Church Beith Scotland

Old photograph of children outside the Parish Church in Beith in North Ayrshire, Scotland. This Gothic T-plan kirk was built between 1807 and 1810 and extended in 1885.

Archibald Clark was born in Beith in 1805, He was a 19th century Member of Parliament in the Auckland Region, New Zealand. He was the first Mayor of Auckland in 1851. His company, Archibald Clark and Sons, manufactured clothing and was a wholesaler. He was the son of Andrew Clark. He attended the University of Glasgow to become a Presbyterian minister, but returned home to take over his ill father's business before completing his studies. His first wife was Margaret McCosh, the daughter of a wealthy coal mine owner. Their eldest son, James Clark, was born in 1833 in Beith and became a mayor of Auckland between 1880 and 1883. Clark decided to emigrate and they left London, England, on the barque Thames on 18 July 1849, and arrived in Auckland with his third wife and four children on 25 November. Clark died on 17 October 1875 at his residence in Remuera. For almost two years, he had not participated in public life due to failing health. He was buried three days later at Symonds Street Cemetery. His widow, Kate Emma McCosh Clark, wrote the first New Zealand children's story A southern cross fairy tale, which she partly illustrated, published in London in 1891.



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