CLARKE, SIR ANDREW (1824-1902)

This article appears in Volume V06, Page 443 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: CHR-CLI

CLARKE, SIR ANDREW (1824-1902) , British soldier and

administrator

ADMINISTRATOR

, son of Colonel Andrew Clarke, of Co. Donegal, Ireland,

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

of West Australia, was born at Southsea, England, on the 27th of July 1824, and educated at King's school, Canterbury. He entered the Royal Military

Academy

ACADEMY, GREEK
ACADEMY, ROYAL

, Woolwich, and obtained his commission in the army in 1844 as second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. He was appointed to his father's staff in West Australia, but was transferred to be A.D.C. and military secretary to the

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

of Tasmania; and in 1847 he went to New Zealand to take part in the Maori War, and for some years served on Sir George Grey's staff. He was then made surveyor-general in Victoria, took a prominent part in framing its new constitution, and held the office of minister of public lands during the first administration (1855-1857). He returned to England in 1857, and in 1863 was sent on a

special

SPECIAL

mission to the West Coast of Africa. In 1864 he was appointed director of works for the navy, and held this post for nine years, being responsible for

great

GREAT

improvements in the naval arsenals at Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth, and for fortifications at Malta, Cork, Bermuda and elsewhere. In 1873 he was made K.C.M.G., and became governor of the Straits Settlements, where he did most valuable

work

WORK

in consolidating British

rule

RULE

and ameliorating the condition of the people. From 1875 to 188o he was minister of public works in India; and on his return to England in 1881, holding then the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the army, he was first appointed commandant at Chatham and then inspector-general of fortifications (18821886). Having attained the rank of lieutenant-general and been created G.C.M.G., he retired from official life, and in 1886 and 1893 unsuccessfully stood for

parliament

PARLIAMENT (Anglo-Lat. parliamentum, Fr. parlement, from parler, to speak)

as a supporter of Mr Gladstone. During his last years he was agent-general for Victoria. He died on the 29th of March 1902. Both as a technical and strategical engineer and as an Imperial

administrator

ADMINISTRATOR

Sir Andrew Clarke was one of the ablest and most useful public servants of his time; and his contributions to periodical literature, as well as his official memoranda, contained valuable suggestions on the subjects of imperial defence and imperial consolidation which received too little consideration at a period when the

home

governments were not properly alive to their importance. He is entitled to remembrance as one of those who first inculcated, from a wide

practical

PRACTICAL

experience, the views of imperial administration and its responsibilities, which in his last years he saw accepted by the bulk of his country-men.

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