Dame Clara Butt:
her connection with Southwick.

Clara Ellen BUTT was born 1 February 1872 at 27 Adur Terrace, Southwick and was baptised in the unusual clam shell font at the Wesleyan Methodist Church 3 April 1872. She was the daughter of Henry Albert BUTT, an Oyster Trawlerman, and Clara BUTT (formerly HOOK)

They didn't live in Southwick very long, for Clara’s younger brother was born in Jersey in 1874. They moved to the Bristol area in 1880. In the 1881 census they are recorded at 3 Sydney Terrace, Bedminster.

Clara was accorded the DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1920.

Dame Clara died 23 January 1936 at North Stoke, Oxfordshire. She was survived by her husband, the baritone Robert Kennerley RUMFORD, who she married in 1900, and their daughter.

A commemorative plaque was placed on 27 Adur Terrace by the Southwick Urban District Council. However, the house and adjoining properties were demolished c1963 - it’s now a truck parking area!

Her biography ‘Clara Butt, Her Life Story’ written by Winifred Ponder was published in 1928.

(I am not related to Clara Butt, and don’t have any other information about her.)

© Trevor Hanson 27-May-2006 E. & O. E.