Professor J.T. Clark & Princess Beatrice: A Legacy Of Love Drawn In Ink

The year is 1913. A handsome fellow stands in front of a tattoo shop in Johannesburg, South Africa, wearing your typical early 1900s menswear. Long sleeves, high collar, he looks like a businessman. Behind him, a woman in a dress with her arms and neck exposed. Tattoo ink covers her body. You can see the top of George Washington's head on her upper chest, a geisha on her right arm, and on her left arm, a cross. If you look a little closer, you see the date, September 8th, 1900, and four names on the cross. You walk in for a tattoo. You're handed a book with hundreds of colorful tattoo designs that you get to choose from. You've just traveled halfway around the world to South Africa to receive a tattoo from the famous Professor J.T. Clark. And enjoy the company of Princess Beatrice.

Some stories are written in books, others in TV shows and movies. But sometimes, the most meaningful stories to us are etched into our flesh, written or drawn with needle and ink. Once, tattoos were marks of the outcast, the judged, and the feared. But over the past century, the world has changed. What was once taboo became art.

Identity and history worn on the skin. Tattoos don't have to tell a story of rebellion. They can be a sign of resilience. On Galveston Island, where tragedy and survival are etched into the land itself, J.T. Clark and Bertha Ritchie reunited in the wake of a tragedy, and together, propelled by love and a dream, embarked on a journey across the world, leaving their mark in ink and history.

In the late 19th century, a wave of immigrants arrived on the shores of Galveston, Texas, seeking opportunity and a fresh start. Among the over 2 million English immigrants who came to the United States in the 1880s were John Thomas Clark and Anna Bertha Ritchie. J.T. Clark was born into a working-class family in Bedale, England, in 1871, and his family struggled to find stable employment. Like many others in search of better opportunities, The men of his family immigrated to Galveston via New Orleans in 1884.

The Clark men arrived in a Galveston rich with immigrants and burgeoning industries, as

Galveston was one of the richest per capita and most populous cities in Texas at the time. That same year, Annie Bertha Ritchie, who preferred being called Bertha, born in 1876 in Newcastle upon Tyne, arrived in Galveston with her mother and sisters. After the tragic loss of their father, The Ritchies settled at 601 Broadway, just blocks from the Gulf of Mexico, while growing up on Galveston Island. Although J.T. and Bertha were five years apart, the two likely crossed paths, as Galveston Island's population hovered just over 31,000 in 1890, a large city at the time, but over 20,000 fewer than today.

J.T. and Bertha's upbringings couldn't be more different. A newspaper article in February 1893 records that J.T. Clark was fined 5 for disorderly conduct. Adjusted for inflation, that would be 175 today. While Bertha flirted with Galveston's high society.

In 1898, J.T. enlisted in the 1st Texas Infantry, serving in the Spanish-American War. For J.T., A poor English immigrant growing up in Galveston, he found his military service marked with disciplinary issues. After being found drunk and disorderly and going AWOL a few times, he was sent to sea to patrol Cuba.

After contracting malaria, he was transferred back to Galveston and put on sick leave. At the same time, in 1898, Bertha married one of the consuls for Great Britain. Galveston was a major shipping hub in the 1890s. And many foreign nations had consulate offices in Galveston to oversee maritime trade. For Bertha, marrying a consul was a big deal, and she lived down the street from her family home. A short time later, the two had a baby boy. Bertha's husband and J.T. Clark were close friends. Bertha raised her little boy a few blocks away from the beach on Galveston Island, enjoying island life much like young families do today.

On the other hand, J.T. Clark, still in the military, was nearly court-martialed, but fortunately for J.T., his court martial papers received inconsistent verification. He could have faced dishonorable discharge and jail time but slipped through the cracks of missing paperwork. After a normal discharge from the military, he lived with his father at 2002 Post Office Street and worked odd jobs, one of them listed as a birdkeeper, probably meaning he tended chickens with his father.

In May of 1900, he married a woman named Florence Kelly, a widow with two young daughters. Throughout the summer of 1900, J.T. struggled with his inability to settle down with married life on the island and taking on two stepchildren. In June, he took a job transporting horses from New Orleans to South Africa, where, as an Englishman, he joined the British Armed Forces fighting in South Africa during the Second Anglo-Boer War.

Unwittingly. J.T. Clark left Galveston just in time to miss the deadliest natural disaster in

American history, ironically passing very near where Atlantic Hurricanes form, off the coast of Africa. J.T. Clark arrived in Cape Town on August 10th, 1900, and began his service in an all-volunteer British colonial unit, along with many other English Texans.

Meanwhile, back on Galveston Island, as the summer was winding down, Bertha, her husband, and her child were living the island life under the hot Texas sun. There was no way Bertha would know that her life was about to be changed forever. By 4 pm on Saturday, September 8th, the house that Bertha's four sisters lived in was completely destroyed by the 1900 storm.

All of Bertha's sisters and J.T. Clark's wife and stepdaughters, along with thousands of other Galvestonians, met their end. During the storm, Bertha was at home with her maid and infant son while her husband was at the consul's office downtown. As the floodwaters rose and the clatter of wind-driven debris became louder and louder on the walls of the home, Bertha's maid offered to take the baby.

But Bertha refused and fled through the floodwater with her son during the middle of the storm.

Tragically, a story all too common during the 1900 storm, the boy was washed away from Bertha's arms and swept into the murky floodwaters, never to be seen again. Bertha, now just trying to survive, clung to the floating wreckage for hours.

The debris ripped her clothes off, and when it seemed like all was lost, she felt a tug on her long hair and was pulled out of the floodwaters to safety. Bertha found refuge dressed only in her corset, with her long hair as her life savior. Bertha had lost her only son, all of her sisters, and her house in only a matter of hours. Miraculously, her husband survived the storm.

As thousands of lives were lost on Galveston Island, over 8,000 miles away in South Africa. J.T. Clark was in his own fight for survival. The South African newspapers printed the news about the hurricane without any details about the missing or dead, and letters to and from South Africa to Texas would have taken weeks.

J.T. Clark had only been married for four months, and he may not have known the fate of his new family for a very long time. His father and brother survived the storm, but his wife and stepdaughters were tragically killed. Upon finally learning this news, J.T. Clark found no pressing reason to return to Galveston. He continued fighting in the Boer Wars, and while figuring out what he would do next in life, no stranger to the rough and rowdy, he began tattooing other soldiers. Like many British soldiers during the Boer War, J.T. Clark saw many tattoos during his service. It was common for commanders to encourage every officer in the British Army to be tattooed with his regimental crest, as it was thought to encourage morale. But then again, tattoos were also used to identify casualties. Tattoo artists reportedly amassed tidy sums tattooing their fellow soldiers. J.T. Clark was particularly adept at the early turn of the century artistry of tattooing. After being discharged from the British Army and a few tropical diseases and parasites later, J.T. Clark returned from Cape Town to Galveston in 1903. He found Galveston Island almost unrecognizable and began living with his father and brothers.

Bertha and her husband had another son but had lost everything, including their investments, in the 1900 storm. Sometime between the birth of their son and J.T. Clark's return in 1903, Bertha's husband died, and we are still researching to find out what took his life. Regardless of how he died, Bertha was now widowed with a two-year-old child with no financial prospects and no surviving family to support her. She and her son lived in a small rented room. J.T. Clark did not know his friend Bertha's husband had died, and when J.T. came to call on his old friend, he found Bertha cooking milk pudding, as it was all she could afford.

J.T., seeing Bertha struggling, began giving Bertha more and more attention. It didn't take long for J.T. and Bertha to reconnect and commiserate over their mutual loss. J.T. and Bertha began spending more time together while working odd jobs. They had crossed paths with each other for years; Bertha had always thought of J.T. as a strapping young lad. and considering their spouses were deceased. J.T. proposed marriage. J.T. was no high society British consul. He was a rough and rowdy tattooed soldier, but he did have big plans. While he was fighting in South Africa, he dreamed up a plan to start a tattoo parlor in Cape Town and explained his plans to Bertha. She was all in on his business plan, and by the end of 1903, J.T. Clark had begun honing his skill to become a professional tattoo artist on Galveston Island. Tattooing anyone willing to sit for the needle. The couple was married in Galveston, and by the summer of 1904, J.T., Bertha and Bertha's son, set sail for Cape Town.

South Africa offered a fresh start from the hardship they had experienced. It took a couple of years, but J.T. Clark opened up tattoo shops in Durban, Cape Town, Pretoria, and

Johannesburg and became one of the most popular tattoo artists on the African continent. In one ad, he called himself the only tattooing artist in Johannesburg, and he dubbed himself Professor J.T. Clark. Tattoo artists are sometimes called professors to signify their high level of skill and expertise in tattooing, and J.T. Clark was a living embodiment. J.T. Clark's tattoo shops were often located at the heart of the business district in each city.

They usually sold tobacco and bottled drinks in many of the shops. This starkly contrasts with the 1900 tattoo shops that were often in shadier parts of town. These tattoo parlors were prominent fixtures in the major cities of South Africa. When you walk into one of Professor J.T. Clark's shops, you are handed a series of books, much like tattoo shops today. In these books, you would find art and designs from Professor J.T. Clark himself. You could just point at one and say, I want that tattoo, similar to the binders or what they have hanging on the wall in tattoo shops today.

On Professor J.T. Clark's books, he would write, "Anyone stealing this book will die on the spot." An ominous but acceptable warning: don't steal from a tattoo artist. Professor J.T. Clark used seven colors in his designs, all starting at five shillings. Adjusted for inflation, that would be between $90 and $100 today. Bertha works with Professor Clark every day. Adopted the moniker Princess Beatrice, and she did something she would never do if she was still married to a British consul. She received neck-to-toe tattoos from her husband, including a George Washington mural on her chest, a Japanese geisha on her right arm, the Last Supper on her back, spiderwebs and butterflies on her shoulders, J.T. tattoos a piece of Bertha's past onto her skin, a tribute to her lost family, cementing their emotional and artistic bond. A cross on her left arm, with the names of her sisters lost during the 1900 storm. When Professor J.T. Clark would dress up in early 1900s menswear, you would never know he was tattooed from head to toe.

Professor J.T. Clark tattooed himself often, but for those hard-to-reach places, like the top of his head and the intricate mural on his back and legs, he enlisted the help of famous early 20th-century tattoo artist Professor George Burchett, known as the "King of Tattoos." He and J.T. Clark became fast friends and no doubt influenced each other's art and life.

Professor Clark was tattooed from head to toe, with ornamental stocking patterns on his calves, a large snake on his right thigh, St. George on his back, and a geisha on each arm and he is particularly famous for having the president of South Africa at the time, President Kruger, in which Johannesburg is named after, tattooed on the top of his head.

Professor J.T. Clark and Princess Beatrice spent hours and hours with each other in the tattoo shops. Princess Beatrice and Professor Clark owned tattoo shops until 1913, crafting a large body of work.

By the end of 1913, due to political tensions in South Africa, they sold their tattoo shops and moved to New York City. This tattooed couple no doubt turned heads. By 1914, Professor Clark joined the Ringling Brothers Circus and was exhibited as a sideshow as the tattooed man.

No doubt a shocking sight in the early 20th century. The Ringling Brothers Circus, the world's greatest show, featured a cast of over 1 200 and traveled around the country in 89 double-length railcars. With a grueling schedule, hitting 142 cities in 184 days. After working for the circus, Professor J.T.

Clark and Princess Beatrice moved to Chicago. While Princess Beatrice and Professor J.T. Clark were making plans for the next stage of their lives, Professor J.T. Clark took a job as a sideshow in Montreal. He was struck with pneumonia and, at 48 years old, succumbed to the illness on April 14th. After a 12-year marriage to J.T. Clark, Princess Beatrice missed him dearly.

Professor J.T. Clark and Princess Beatrice had traveled the world together, becoming partners in life and business. Princess Beatrice was for the second time widowed, and after a wild life with Professor J.T. Clark, she lived off and on in Canada while her son earned their room and board while working on a farm. She tried to convince her son to become a tattoo artist but warned him to stay away from circuses and to set his sights on Coney Island. Princess Beatrice never remarried, holding on to those fond memories of a marriage to a famous tattoo artist in South Africa. Princess Beatrice lived another 40 years, spending her time writing poetry and telling her grandkids her life story.


Towards the end of Princess Beatrice's life, she would tell her grandkids stories about the 1900s storm, about South Africa, about Professor J.T. Clark, and she had a few pieces of memorabilia to bring each of those stories to life. One of which she kept in a box in her closet. When she cut her hair after the 1900 storm, she couldn't bear getting rid of the hair that had saved her life. Remember, she was pulled to safety and rescued by her long hair, as it was all the unknown rescuer could really grab a hold of.

When I received an email from the granddaughter of Princess Beatrice, frankly, I had never heard of J.T. Clark or Princess Beatrice. Nor do I have any tattoos. But I was sent a book by Mrs. Judith Lukas. One she had just recently published. The first 20 pages or so are the stories of Princess Beatrice and J.T. Clark. And as you've just heard, only a fraction of the story takes place on Galveston Island.

However, the remaining 200-plus pages of this book are copies of Professor J.T. Clark's tattoos, photos of his shops in South Africa, and photos of Professor J.T. Clark and Princess Beatrice. Covered from head to toe in ink. No, most of the story doesn't take place on Galveston Island, but Galveston Island and the events that happened here brought these two together.

It is clear that J.T. and Bertha loved each other immensely. Their story is bittersweet. For Princess Beatrice's remaining 40 years, she carried on the legacy of Professor J.T. Clark, proving that love is like ink. Remains long after the artist is gone.

Professor J.T. Clark's tattoo designs are seeing a resurgence around the tattoo world, as renditions and inspiration from his tattoos are being modernized and brought back to life on thousands of people across the globe.

And thanks to Judith Lukas, Princess Beatrice's granddaughter, and tattoo artist Nicholas York for putting together and publishing the book, 'Professor J.T. Clark | Tattooing to Perfection .'When I flip through these pages and look at these early 20th-century tattoos, it gives me a deep sense of the time, the art style, and even the personality of some of the people receiving these tattoos. Whether you're a fan of tattoos or not, I highly recommend checking out this book.

J.T. Clark's life was a testament to reinvention. A soldier, wanderer, survivor, artist, and showman. Bertha, too, transformed her tragedy into resilience, supporting her husband's ambitions and making a name for herself as Princess Beatrice. Their story, much like Galveston itself, is one of survival and rebirth. Though their time in Galveston and South Africa was brief, the impact on the tattooing world remains. From the storm-ravaged island to the inked bodies of soldiers, Professor J.T. Clark and Princess Beatrice left a legacy as pioneers in an art form that continues to thrive today.

Again, a huge thank you to Ms. Judith Lukas for sending me this book. 'Professor J.T. Clark | Tattooing to Perfection.'