James Clark (1858–1943) – British Artist and Stained Glass Designer

James Clark was born on 25th March 1858 in West Hartlepool, in the north-east of England, the eldest son of William and Ellen Clark.  His paternal grandfather came from Lanarkshire.  James’s father, William, went to work in the shipbuilding industry in Hartlepool and later, after spending time in South Africa, he set up a pawnbroking business in Hartlepool. James first trained as an architect, entering the office of the prominent local architect James Garry when he was twelve years old. His father paid for him to have watercolour painting lessons and in 1875 James gave up his architectural career for life as an artist, moving to London in 1877.

James won a scholarship to study at the National Art Training School, finishing his training in Paris, eventually attending the Ecole des Beaux Arts, where he studied under Léon Bonnat.

James married his childhood sweetheart, Elizabeth Hunter, in 1882 and the couple had three sons and three daughters.

James became famous shortly after the start of the First World War, when he painted “The Great Sacrifice”. The painting was reproduced as a souvenir print for the Christmas edition of “The Graphic”, a British weekly illustrated newspaper published from 1869 until 1932.  The prints were eagerly purchased, with one reviewer saying it had "turned railway bookstalls into wayside shrines." Framed copies were hung in churches next to Rolls of Honour, and clergymen gave sermons on the theme of the painting.

The original oil painting was purchased by Queen Mary, wife of the British monarch King George V and hangs in the church at Whippingham on the Isle of Wight, where it is a memorial to Prince Maurice of Battenburg, who was killed in action at Zonnebeke, in the Ypres Salient, on 27 October 1914.
James also painted “The Bombardment of the Hartlepools”.

After the war, James Clark designed a number of war memorials and several stained-glass windows, in both Britain and Canada, reproduced his painting, for instance, the 1916 memorial window in St Margaret’s Church, Mountain Ash, Cynon Valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.

James and Elizabeth were living in Reigate, Surrey in 1939 and James died there in January 1943.

"The Bombardment of The Hartlepools"

Sources: 

http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/clark/index.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clark_(artist)
http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/clark/paintings/9.html