John Altham Graham-Clarke (1782–1862)
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 1, 297.
EBB’s uncle. Born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 3 October 1782, he was the second child and first son of John and Arabella Graham (later Graham-Clarke). He married Mary Elizabeth Parkinson, daughter of Leonard Parkinson of Kinnersley Castle, near Hereford, whose activities included a partnership with George Goodin Barrett in the Jamaican slave trade. The couple made this same place their principal home, and it was often visited by members of the Moulton-Barrett family. John is recorded as having been a magistrate for the counties of Gloucester and Hereford. John and Mary had two sons, John and Leonard. In 1843 the latter married a first cousin, Isabel Butler, daughter of his father’s sister Frances. Isabel, however, died at an early age. Family correspondence provides evidence of extensive business dealings between John Altham Graham-Clarke and the Moulton-Barretts. It also indicates that he was sometimes in financial difficulties. In a letter to EBB’s father dated 19 June 1828 (SD 659) he wrote: “I assure you on my word that I have not Ten pounds in the World.” He died at Frocester Manor on 22 January 1862, and was buried locally.
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