| Birth Name Emma Clarke | Date of Birth 1876 | Birth Town Liverpool, England, United Kingdom |
The first known black female footballer in the UK.
Liverpool born and raised in a town called Bootle by both parents, unfortunately recorded information on her life and career is limited. However along with her sister Jane both were significant figures for black women also demonstrating empowerment for females outside the status quo.
| National Inheritance |
Currently there isn’t any documented information on Emma’s or her sibling Jane’s life. The little that is known and can be shared is both parents appear to have been married and father worked on the barges, which would have been a job working on large boats known to carry goods being imported or exported from Liverpool’s port, an area in which the town has a long history in.
Emma started working in a sweets and chocolate store, possibly from the age of 15 and in 1895 played her first game for the British Ladies football team. The following year she went on a tour to Scotland as part of a hand picked football team, know has Mrs Graham’s XI accompanied by her sister Jane.
Both Emma and Jane’s footballing influences are unknown but we can assume the start of Arthur Wharton’s journey in the sport, ten years prior may have played a part and as a result the Clarke sisters made history of their own. Empowering both women and the black community during a period when the pair would experience mistreatment and inequality in contradictory ways.
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