Page 38 - Redditch People

Redditch People

Maurice Clarke 1925 - 2012

Local Historian and Councillor Maurice Clarke
(Source: RLHS Archives )
Maurice Clarke was born in Lodge Road, Redditch in
1925 and attended St Stephen’s school, Peakman
Street. He was instrumental in reviving the Redditch
Operatic Society in the 1950s and was given an
honorary life membership. With Alan Leadbetter the
President of Redditch Operatic Society he co-founded
an antique shop in Crabbs Cross. In 1979 he was
elected as an independent candidate for Crabbs Cross
and served until 1984. He was a keen local historian
and died in 2012.

Source/Researched by: Anne Bradford

Life and Times of Maurice Clarke

Maurice Clarke was a man of many talents but he will be remembered chiefly for taking
the leading role in local operettas as a tenor. In 1952 he went semi-professional and sang
in many well-known clubs across the Midlands but seven years later he helped to revive
the Redditch Operatic Society. He sang with Astwood Bank, Studley and Redditch
operatic societies

Although Maurice’s roots are in Ipsley, he was born in Redditch. His first son tragically
died in infancy but he later had five healthy children. He volunteered for the Royal Navy
in 1942 at 16 by changing the date on his birth certificate from a 3 to a 5 but was
invalided out after injuring his leg in a game of football! In 1943 he was called back into
the armed services and because of his experience in a tool room, he was placed in the
REME workshop. He went to Luxembourg and Berlin and was demobbed from Germany
in 1948.

In about 1965 he opened a wonderful antiques shop at Crabbs Cross, giving local folk
many happy hours of bargain hunting.

Page: 38 © RLHS 2015