Clifford A.L. Clark, MC

Clifford Albert Lawrence Clark was born on the 10th September 1918 at Harwich, at the end of the First World War.  His long life spanned well into the 21st Century.  He died on 20th September 2008, following a fall at home.  He had just celebrated his 90th birthday and 68th wedding anniversary.

Clifford Clark was the only son of Albert Edward Clark, who was serving in the Royal Marines.  He was educated at the Reay School.  He left school to embark on a career in shipping and shipbroking.  His first firm was W.H. Vernal, who were shipowners and he subsequently moved to Harris & Graham as a shipbroker.  He was elected a member of the Baltic Exchange in 1938 and an associate of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers in 1939.

With the approach of the Second World War, he joined the Royal Engineers as a territorial in 1938.  When the war started in 1939, he served with the British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium, returning to the UK with the fall of France.  He served in the army for the remainder of the war, being commissioned into the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, seeing active service in Malta, the Middle East, North Africa, Italy Greece, the Dodecanese and Western Europe, ending the war in Berlin as a Major.  For his services in Malta, he was awarded the Military Cross.

After the war, he resumed his career as a shipbroker with Harris & Graham and was shortly afterwards approached by Theodore Layman to move to J.A. Finzi Layman, which he did.  He remained with J.A. Finzi Layman for the rest of his shipbroking career, rising to be Chairman and Managing Director of the firm, which became J.A. Finzi, Layman, Clark & Co Ltd. He was also Chairman and Managing Director of a number of other associated Baltic companies.  

An interest in maritime arbitration developed due to the fact that Mr Vernal, his first employer, and with whom he stayed in touch, was himself an arbitrator. He become a senior member of the Baltic Exchange’s list of arbitrators and developed an arbitration practice, Clifford Clark and a number of others determined, with the encouragement and assistance of the Baltic Exchange, to form a new organisation dedicated to maritime arbitration.  Thus was born the LMAA at a meeting in March 1960 at the Baltic Exchange.

In a letter to the LMAA in 1998, he compared life as an arbitrator at the end of the 20th Century with the earlier days, saying:

“… our job then was less complex and more leisurely, and involved much socialising with the legendary Arbitrators’ lunches, to say nothing of the slap up dinners after evening Hearings!  I don’t know if any of the Committee will remember the Arbitrators’ lunches: a goodly portion of smoked salmon, two or three King Prawns and the whole surmounted with a pile of potato salad, washed down by a glass or two of the Baltic’s best Chablis.”

In those days, some arbitrators, although not Clifford, were also well known for rounding things off with a glass of port.

He was a founder Committee Member of the LMAA and Honorary Secretary for the first 7 years of the organisation’s life, setting it well on the road to what it has become almost 50 years later.  He was Chairman between 1970 and 1973, President when that office was first created in 1973 remaining President until 1975 and was elected President for a second time between 1980 and 1983. He was elected the first Honorary Member of the Association in 1975 and presented with a handsome vellum parchment to mark his election.

In 1988, at the age of 70, he took the decision to wind down his arbitration practice, other than a few rather special appointments, which he was prepared to accept.  At the time, he estimated that he had some 500 active appointments and that it would take him 3 years to bring these to a conclusion; in fact it took nearer 6 years.

In 1988, he took the decision to move away from London and settled with his wife, Hilda, in the centre of Shrewsbury to be closer to other family members.  Even after moving to Shrewsbury, he was still very active in arbitration, travelling to London for hearings for some years.  He played various prominent roles in The Shrewsbury Civic Society.  He was a freeman of the City of London and consequently was made an Associate Freeman of Shrewsbury.

Apart from his service to the LMAA, the many organisations of which he was a prominent member, include:

• The London Court of International Arbitration - Chairman 1977-1978
• The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators - President 1972 and 1973
• The Worshipful Company of Arbitrators - Founder member, first
  Senior Warden and Master
  1982-1983
• The Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers - President 1978-1980
• The Federation of National Associations of - President 1981-1983
• Shipbrokers and Agents (FONASBA)
• The Baltic Exchange - Director 1958-1961 and
  1965-1970
• The Chartered Shipbrokers - Committee Member
• P&I Association Ltd - 1960-1983, Consultant
  1983-1985

Clifford Clark was also a name at Lloyds, becoming an underwriting member in 1975.  He remained a name until his death, by which time he was probably one of only a handful of names with unlimited personal liability.  He was Chairman of the Lloyd’s “SAVONITA” inquiry in 1978, appointed by the Chairman and Committee of Lloyds which arose out of an insurance fraud relating to a consignment of cars, some of which were said to have been damaged by fire, smoke and water, but were in fact resold at 80% of their value, as new.

Clifford Clark is survived by his wife Hilda, his two sons Graham (himself a full member of the LMAA and our Company) and Dudley, and his daughter Janet, plus his 4 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren, to all of whom we extend our sympathies.  We would also wish to pay tribute to Miss Diane Lawrence, who for 49 years was Clifford Clark’s loyal Secretary.