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Ernest Victor Clark was born in Brompton, Chelsea, in 1867. He was the second son of landscape artist Samuel James Clark and his wife Maria. His father taught him to paint and also to play the violin. He was brought up in Islington and is first recorded as "artist" on the family's census return of 1881, when Ernest was just 14 years old. The 1891 census return also gives Ernest's occupation as "artist". He painted landscapes with farm animals similar to those of his father and his brother Claude. There are very few auction records for him; it is possible that he mostly helped his father with his pictures rather than painting many of his own.
By 1901, however, Ernest was employed as a violinist. His census return of that year reveals he was lodging with the Edleston family in Urmston in Lancashire and he describes himself as "Professor of Music". Ten years on he was still living with the same family and his occupation is given as "musician, violin", employed by a theatre. Ernest's brother Cuthbert Edward Clark was musical director of the Palace Theatre, and later the Theatre Royal, both in Manchester, during the early part of the 20th Century. Ernest would likely have played in these venues.
It appears that Ernest never married. Later in life he moved to Whitstable in Kent to be near his artist brother Claude Lorraine Clark (Claude Cardon). Ernest died aged 65 on 21 November 1931 at the Cottage Hospital in Whitstable. He had been suffering from leukaemia.
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