Nicholas Timothy Clerk

Nicholas Timothy Clerk (28 October 1862 His father was the Jamaican Moravian missionary and teacher, Alexander Worthy Clerk (1820 – 1906), who worked extensively on the Gold Coast with the Basel Mission and co-founded in 1843 the Salem School, a Presbyterian boarding middle school for boys. Born on the Gold Coast, N. T. Clerk was educated in Germany and Switzerland. He returned to Ghana and worked as a missionary, congregational pastor and church planter. He was later elected the first Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast, in effect, the chief ecclesiastical officer, equivalent to the chief administrator, leading the overall strategic operations of the national Reformed Protestant church organisation, a position he held from 1918 to 1932. As Synod Clerk, he pushed vigorously for and was instrumental in turning the original idea of a church mission high school into reality. His mother, Pauline Hesse (1831–1909) was from the Gold Coast, and was of Danish, German and Ga descent. His aunt was Regina Hesse (1832 –1898), a pioneer educator and school principal. Nicholas Clerk spent his summers helping the German Huppenbauer missionary family household at Aburi. After a short period of recovery, the Huppenbauer family returned to Germany with Nicholas Clerk who was about to continue his seminary studies in Europe. Christaller was a two-time recipient (1876; 1882) of the most prestigious linguistics prize, The Prix Volney, awarded since 1822, by the Institut de France "to recognize work in general and comparative linguistics." While living in Germany, Clerk assisted Christaller in completing some of his works in the Twi language. between August 1885 and July 1888, where he received advanced instruction in theology, philosophy and linguistics, with special emphasis on philology. His theology courses included dogmatics, homiletics and catechesis. The Basel mission also had a holistic and rigorous skills-based approach to educating its students. At Basel, Clerk suffered a nervous breakdown halfway through his studies but recovered quickly.

Missionary work Clerk's first station was at Anum, on the banks of the Volta River, about 50 miles (80 km) inland, where he arrived in October 1888. The Berekum Presbyterian District was founded in 1920. With financial proceeds he received from his personal farm enterprise at Adawso, a few miles to the west, he was able to give his children high-quality education and raise them to become responsible professionals in society: a Protestant minister, an architect, teachers, a nurse, a medical doctor and fashion designers.

Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church The European members of the Basel Mission, however, did not treat their African colleagues as adults, and denied them church and mission administration positions with central decisions concerning the local church made in Basel, Switzerland.

A Synod (a Presbyterian judicatory or polity, composed of members from all presbyteries within its geographic jurisdiction) and a Synod Committee were established. In his inaugural address, N. T. Clerk passionately argued for a secondary school for boys, a pitch which was eventually taken up by the church leading to the establishment of the Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School in 1938. At the 1918 Synod held at the Christ Presbyterian Church, Akropong, Hall and Clerk authored the first constitution of the Ghanaian Presbyterian Church. Clerk's administration initially relied on sequestration for funding. Given the patronising attitudes African employees had experienced from the Basel Mission leadership, Clerk was naturally wary of the Scottish missionaries but he eventually collaborated with them in the formation of the national Presbyterian Church.

In the 1926 Synod meeting opened by N. T. Clerk, at Abetifi, the church polity voted to adopt the name ‘The Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast’ later to become ‘The Presbyterian Church of Ghana’ after the country gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1957. The event brought together clergymen, missionary educationalists, medical experts and consultative members from the global academic community to discuss a variety of topics, relating to formal education and holistic training on the African continent, with topics encompassing "the Christian ideal in education, policy curriculum, the education of women and girls, the medium of instruction, languages and literature, and religious education."

Later years After Clerk's retirement in 1933, he split his time between Adawso and his home in Christiansborg (Osu) and continued to be active in church work. a homemaker and teacher from Christiansborg (Osu) on 26 February 1891 at Aburi. The wedding ceremony was officiated by Clerk's own father, the Rev. A. W. Clerk.

She was educated at the now defunct all-girls boarding school, Basel Mission Girls’ School, established by Catherine Mulgrave in 1857, at Abokobi near Accra. Carl Quist's son (Meyer's cousin) was Emmanuel Charles Quist (1880 – 1959), a barrister and judge who became the first African President of the Legislative Council from 1949 to 1951, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Gold Coast from 1951 to 1957, and Speaker of the National Assembly of Ghana from March 1957 to November 1957.

Anna Meyer also stayed with the German missionary Kopps family.

Within a year of his retirement, Clerk's wife, Anna Alice died suddenly on 2 August 1934 from a heart attack at their home in Adawso. Clerk, N. T. (1943), "The Settlement of West Indian Emigrants on the Gold Coast under the Auspices of the Basel Mission 1843-1943 - A Centenary Sketch," Accra

Death and funeral He died of natural causes at his home in Osu, Accra, at age 98, on 16 August 1961. A boarding house, Clerk House at the Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School (PRESEC, Legon) was named in his honour, in recognition of his selfless service to the church and the founding of a school that became synonymous with academic excellence and highly regarded alumni. There is a commemorative monument in front of the Anum Presbyterian Church, Anum in memory of Nicholas Timothy Clerk and other pioneering Basel missionaries who planted the Anum Presbytery. The names of Nicholas Clerk and his father, Alexander Clerk appear on a commemorative plaque in the sanctuary of the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Osu, listing pioneering missionaries of the church, in recognition of their contributions to formal education and the growth of the Presbyterian faith in Ghana.

Literature Debrunner, Hans Werner (1965). Owura Nico: the Rev. Nicholas Timothy Clerk, 1862-1961, pioneer and church leader (translated by Susanne Mainzer). Accra: Waterville Pub. House