Bessie Martha Rhoda Clarke was born on 23 March 1866 at Remuera, the fifth child of Samuel and Mary.
In her lifetime she married Mortimer W. Shroff, born in England in 1874, who became a well-known hardware merchant in Auckland. The family business he established celebrated its centenary in 1986 and finally closed in 2007.
They had three children:
- Mortimer Junior (1901–1966),
- Frederick (1904–1986), and
- Claude Leicester (1907–1968).
Mortimer Junior's son Brian Colebrook Shroff (1930–1996) is regarded by the family as its historian. His brother Richard David Shroff is the fifth generation running the family hardware business. Neil Willas Shroff (born 1943), son of Claude, was a teacher, organist, and choir master from the age of twelve; he founded the Auckland Boys' Choir in 1970 and conducted it until 1982, taking it on tours to Australia and the United States.
She died at Remuera on 12 June 1939.