One of the first things we did when we moved to Street was to buy a new dining table. That meant a trip to Living Homes, a furniture store in the High Street.
Just inside the door was a large plaque, explaining that the building was originally a school, funded by the shoe company Clarks – major employers in Street since 1825.
Apparently, the Quaker Clark family were asked to fulfil government contracts during the Crimean War, supplying sheepskin goods to help keep the British soldiers warm in winter.
More men were dying of the cold than from the conflict at the time. As pacifists, the Clarks were reluctant to be involved in any business involving military operations, but they were also guided by the Quaker faith to do all that they could to alleviate the suffering of their fellow human beings.
Rather than refuse the contracts, they resolved to supply the goods to the army, but to plough any profits from the transaction into building the school and supporting it so that local children could be ensured a good education.
I loved learning that little piece of local history and as I got to know more residents of Street, I realised that many generations have benefited from the creation of that school, as well as the homes, library, swimming pool, community centre and theatre that the Clark family built for their community.
There are very few local families who didn’t have some or all of their relatives working for Clarks, who in their heyday provided thousands of jobs at the factory. It sparked off my interest in the rich culture and history of the area I now call home.
When I moved from Wiltshire to Somerset in 2018, I thought I was facing the end of my writing career. After having three books published by a small indie publisher, all of them were by then out of print.
Little did I know that my new life in Somerset would lead to new books and new publishers (yes, plural in both cases) and a new pen name.
During lockdown, I found a new publisher and had three books published in ten months. Mine, The Legacy and The Hidden are gritty dramas set in the 1960s and 70s. I enjoyed writing them, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write next.
‘There are very few local families who didn’t have some or all of their relatives working for Clarks, who in their heyday provided thousands of jobs at the factory’ (Image: Michael Knight)
The second dining table in this story is also located in Somerset – in a beautiful Victorian mansion called Northmoor House, just outside Dulverton.
I was running a residential writing retreat there in October 2021 and one day I sat at the dining table, telling someone about the plaque I had seen in the furniture store in Street. Another writer there, Lizzie Lane, had just published a very successful series about the workers at the Wills Tobacco Factory in Bristol.
She suggested I should write one about the Clarks Shoe Factory for her publisher, Boldwood Books. I’d never written a saga before, but the idea intrigued me. After a couple of false starts, the story of Kate, Louisa and Jeannie – friends who work together in the Machine Room at Clarks – began to unfold.
The Clarks Factory Girls at War begins in 1914, just as war is declared. What I believe makes this story so interesting is the influence of the Clark family and their faith on the people of Street. The war not only brought the Clarks and many of their fellow Quakers into the wider conflict between nations, but created conflicts of individual conscience.
It led to accusations of cowardice against them from people who didn’t understand the pacifist nature of the Quaker faith. It was a difficult time for all Quakers. Some of them refused to fight, while others chose to enlist. The effect of this on Kate, Louisa and Jeannie is profound as brothers and sweethearts are caught up in the war. It means that life will never be the same again.
So, thanks to two dining tables, I’ve been studying the history of Clarks with local historians, Quakers, and at the extensive Clarks archives, which are curated by the Alfred Gillett Trust here in Street. I’ve seen evidence of incredible kindness, of hardship, and of loyalty.
I’ve learned about some extraordinary people, including Miss Alice Clark who was an educator, academic, suffragette and the first female to join the board of directors at Clarks. At the time of my story, she was the director in charge of the Machine Room where Kate, Louisa and Jeannie work and is a huge influence on these young women.
I’ve loved learning about life in the factory during the Great War and creating these characters to tell just a few of the stories that deserve to be told. The Clarks Factory Girls at War, written under the pen name of May Ellis – my grandmother’s name – is the first in the series spanning the First World War whereas the second, Courage for the Clarks Factory Girls, is out on June 29 this year..
Clarks Factory Girls at War (Image: Courtesy of Colin Thomas)
The Clarks Factory Girls at War:
Can love blossom in times of trouble? Life-long friends Louisa, Jeannie and Kate are following in the footsteps of their families, working at the Clarks shoe factory.
But when Britain declares war on Germany, the Somerset village of Street is shaken to its core. The Clarks factory is at the heart of life in the village, but the Clark family are Quakers and pacifists. Before long, there are fierce debates amongst the workers and tensions between those who oppose the war and those who believe the village men should go to fight.
Each of the girls must decide her own position but as brothers and sweethearts leave for France, Louisa is relieved that her sweetheart Mattie, a Quaker, who won’t be signing up. But she’ll soon find that they face fierce opposition at home as well as across the Channel.
Will the girls’ friendship be enough to keep them together, as everything around them falls apart?
Courage for the Clarks Factory Girls (Image: Courtesy of Colin Thomas)
Courage for the Clarks Factory Girls:
1915: As war continues to rage across the Channel, the families of the Somerset village of Street can no longer avoid its long shadow. Workers in the Clarks shoe factory, at the heart of the village, have left for the army in droves, and news from the Front seems to grow darker by the day.
When life-long friends Louisa, Jeannie and Kate receive the news they had been fearing, all hope seems lost. And Louisa’s world will be rocked further when she makes another discovery, one that will see her cast out by her family, changing her life forever.
Kate and Jeannie are determined to be strong for their friend, but each of them has their own problems to bear, and when Jeannie’s beloved brother Lucas enlists, she fears history is about to repeat itself.. Can the Clarks factory girls help each other through the darkest days and keep hope alive?
You can purchase May Ellis’ books via: mybook.to/clarksfactorysocial
