Kate McCosh Clark

Kate Emma McCosh Clark (née Woolnough; 15 May 1847 – 30 November 1926) was a New Zealand children's writer, poet, artist and community worker. She wrote and illustrated an early New Zealand children's book, A Southern Cross Fairy Tale, which was published in London in 1891. Her other works included Persephone and other Poems (1894) and Maori Tales and Legends (1896).

Early life and marriage

Clark was born at Ipswich, Suffolk, England, in 1847, to Susan Bonner and her husband, Henry Woolnough, an architect. She studied art and lived in London, earning a living by undertaking research for writers, often at the British Museum.

On 8 April 1875 she married James Clark, an Auckland businessman, in Melbourne. Two days later, on a Saturday, the Auckland premises of Archibald Clark and Sons were closed to give employees the opportunity to celebrate the wedding. She had five children while they lived in Auckland, and their first son was born on 28 December 1875. From 1880 to 1883 her husband was the Mayor of Auckland.

Career

Clark became an important organiser and contributor to charitable organisations in Auckland. The family had a large home in Remuera on 12 acres of land. The Anglican bishop of Auckland, William Cowie, described her as being "specially gifted as a hostess, being gracious to everybody, desirous of helping all who need her aid, and most interesting as an accomplished painter and a woman of rare good sense". Together with her husband, she helped reform the Auckland Society of Arts in 1880, and sat on the committee for ten years. In 1882 she worked closely with Eliza Cowie to establish a charitable organisation called the Girls' Friendly Society, of which she became vice president. She also sat on the management committee of the Women's Home in Parnell and was involved in the Jubilee Institute for the Blind.