Mystery of captain's animal magic solved

Feeding polar bears and enticing lions to balance on stools was all in a day's work for animal trainer Herbert Clarke in the late 1800s.

However, historians have been scratching their heads about where to find any details on one of Walsall's most fascinating characters, who ran away to join the circus at age 12 – until now.

Captain Herbert's first test as a budding animal trainer was when he was thrust into a cage full of wolves. They promptly ripped his trousers from him before he was able to scramble out.

The next time he took the advice of another circus trainer to take a stick in with him to show he was not afraid – and this time he came out on top.

The mystery surrounding the colourful life of Capt Herbert, who travelled the world and progressed from wagon boy to lion tamer and settled in Leamore, has now been unlocked after photos and information from his relatives found their way to historian Stuart Williams at the town's local history centre in Essex Street.

Mr Williams was approached by Capt Clarke's family after he provided some of the history of the famous Pat Collins funfair to Walsall Library.

Capt Clarke's relatives asked him why the lion tamer was nowhere to be seen in the display, and when Mr Williams replied that very little was known about him, they provided all the information he needed to gain a proper picture of the larger-than-life character.

It took him six months to scan the photos and put all the information together for an online account.

Mr Williams said today: "I was so amazed by him, I wanted to pay tribute to him. You just don't hear stories like his locally.

"There are lots of stories of people who have done great things, but nothing quite like a lion tamer." Seeking a sense of adventure, Capt Clarke ran away from home aged 12, and by 15 he had joined Bostock and Wombwell's menagerie as a wagon boy.

Before he was 20 he had travelled across the world, including Africa, and was putting lions, tigers and even bears through their paces.

While working for the Frank C Bostock circus training bears in England, he met his wife Ethel Stella Cork, a fellow trainer of big cats, and they married on December 7, 1912.

For his last few years as a lion tamer, from the 1920s to early 1930s, Captain Clarke joined the legendary Pat Collins Amusement Empire.

He and his wife bought a newsagents in Beeches Road, Leamore, Walsall, when they retired from training, and the Clarke family remained in Leamore until around 1955, when they moved to Brownhills.

In 1965 Captain Herbert Vincent Clarke died, aged 81, at his home in Watling Street, and his wife followed him just 14 days later.

* Stuart Williams will give a talk on Capt Clarke at Walsall Museum tomorrow at 2pm.