# Bertrand Clark > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bertrand_Clark > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bertrand_Clark.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Clark > Source revision: 1351734244 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Bertrand Milbourne Clark** (29 April 1894 – 30 March 1958) was an [all-round](/source/Multi-sport_athlete), amateur Jamaican sportsman, who excelled in golf, cricket and tennis, and was the first black person to compete at [Wimbledon](/source/The_Championships,_Wimbledon), in 1924. ## Family Clark was born on 29 April 1894.[1] He was descended from Thomas Milbourne Clark, his great grandfather, and Eleanor Fitzgerald, who married in 1824.[2] Thomas was later described as "a [free person of colour](/source/Free_people_of_color)".[2] Bertrand was the second son of Clementina Louise, née Sanguinetti, and Enos Edgar Clark, a dentist in [Kingston](/source/Kingston,_Jamaica).[2][3] He was educated at [Kingston High School](/source/Kingston_High_School,_Jamaica) and then [Jamaica College](/source/Jamaica_College).[3][4] ## Sporting career Clark was a sporting polymath, and competed as an amateur.[2] He represented Jamaica College at [high jump](/source/High_jump) at the first Inter-Secondary Schools Championship Sports at [Sabina Park](/source/Sabina_Park) in 1910, where he came first.[2][3] He subsequently became known in Jamaica as a top golfer.[2] He played for [Melbourne Cricket Club](/source/Melbourne_Cricket_Club_(Jamaica)) alongside his brother Ronald[a].[4][2] He also played soccer.[5] He served as Secretary of the [Jamaica Golf Association](/source/Jamaica_Golf_Association) from 1941 to 1951.[3] ### Tennis In seven consecutive years he was the All Jamaica tennis champion.[2] In all, he won seven singles, seven doubles and five mixed titles at the championships.[4][5] His male doubles partners were Charlie Brandon, H. V. Alexander, H. A. Lake and O. V. A. Lindo; and in mixed doubles[b] Mrs William Wilson, Mrs C. C. Calder (later Mrs. Cy Elkins), Edna DaCosta and Olive Wilson.[4] He beat the American [Tally Holmes](/source/Tally_Holmes) to take the [American Tennis Association](/source/American_Tennis_Association) title, for [African American](/source/African_Americans) players, in 1920.[2] At Wimbledon in 1924, where he was the first black player to complete,[2][6] he was defeated in the first round by [Vincent Burr](/source/Vincent_Burr). In his only other recorded appearance there, in 1930, he was beaten in the first round by [Herman David](/source/Herman_David). During a royal tour of the [British Empire](/source/British_Empire) in 1927, [Prince Albert, Duke of York](/source/George_VI) (later King George VI) partnered Clark in a game of doubles; this was unusual at the time and was seen as a display of equality between races.[3][7] ## Writing With his brother, he wrote several books on cricket.[2] He also wrote about golf and tennis.[5] ## Personal life From 1911, Clark worked as a civil servant,[2] retiring as medical secretary of the Island Medical Office.[4][5] He was twice married but had no children.[2] He was listed in the Jamaican *Who's Who* for 1946.[2] He died on 30 March 1958.[3] An obituary was published in the *[Sunday Gleaner](/source/Sunday_Gleaner)*, which said that Clark was "perhaps the greatest all-round Jamaican sportsman of our time".[2][4] ## Notes 1. Clark's brother is named as "Ronald" in the *Gleaner* obituary, but as "Robert" by Bauckham 1. Wilson and Calder as named in the *Gleaner* obituary; their own given names were not stated ## References 1. ["B.M. Clark"](https://blacktennishistory.com/b-m-clark/). *Black Tennis History*. 2011-04-06. Retrieved 1 June 2021. 1. Bauckham, Jon (1 July 2020). ["I'm related to the first black tennis player to play at Wimbledon"](https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/real-stories/im-related-to-the-first-black-tennis-player-to-play-at-wimbledon/). *[Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine](/source/Who_Do_You_Think_You_Are%3F_Magazine)*. Retrieved 1 June 2021. 1. ["Bertrand Clark's GS Performance Timeline & Stats"](https://db4tennis.com/players/male/bertrand-clark). *DB4 Tennis*. Retrieved 1 June 2021. 1. Ramsay, Alva & Macdonald, Herbert (6 April 1958). "B. M. Clark was a Great Champion Sportsman and Gentleman". *[Sunday Gleaner](/source/Kingston_Gleaner)*. p. 3. 1. Briggs, Simon (8 November 2019). ["Meet Bertrand Milbourne Clark: The sporting polymath who became Wimbledon's first black participant in 1924"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2019/11/08/meet-bertrand-milbourne-clark-wimbledons-first-black-participant/). *[The Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20191109100037/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2019/11/08/meet-bertrand-milbourne-clark-wimbledons-first-black-participant/) 9 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine. 1. "[unknown]". *[Leeds Mercury](/source/Leeds_Mercury)*. 25 June 1924. 1. Shawcross, William (2009). *Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother: The Official Biography*. Macmillan. p. 273. ISBN 978-1-4050-4859-0. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bertrand Clark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Clark) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Clark?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.