Lieutenant-GeneralSir Andrew ClarkeGCMG CB CIE (27 July 1824 – 29 March 1902) was a British soldier and governor, as well as a surveyor and politician inAustralia.[8]
Born inSouthsea,Hampshire, Clarke was the eldest of the four sons ofLieutenant-ColonelAndrew Clarke, thegovernor of Western Australia[9] (1793–1847). Clarke's early years were spent in India with his parents. He was later brought up by his paternal grandfather and two uncles, one of whom was the father ofMarcus Clarke, at the family home of Belmont, nearLifford, Ireland. He was educated atThe King's School, Canterbury, and atPortora Royal School atEnniskillen,Ireland. At 16 he entered theRoyal Military Academy, Woolwich, where one of his teachers wasMichael Faraday.[8]
Graduating in 1844, Clarke was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in theRoyal Engineers and after a year of further study atChatham was sent toFermoy in Ireland. In 1846 he was nominated to theOregon Boundary Commission; his father, who was then governor ofWestern Australia, urged him instead to come to Australia with the hope of later gaining a professional post with him. As a lieutenant in command of a detachment of Royal Engineers, Clarke sailed with the new lieutenant-governor,Sir William Denison, aboard theWindermere and arrived atHobart on 26 January 1847. His father's death the following next month left Clarke with little reason to remain in Australia but he continued to superintend convict labour and to survey the area around Hobart and design wharf accommodation and became friends with William Denison.[8]
Clarke's next tour of duty was inNew Zealand with governorSir George Grey, from September 1848. He and his detachment worked mainly on road building, and Clarke discovered his gift for dealing with native peoples when he was sent on a peace-making mission to theBay of Islands.[8]
In 1849 Clarke returned to Hobart to become private secretary to William Denison,Governor ofTasmania andNew South Wales, and was also an official nominee in theTasmanian Legislative Council in 1851–53 and controller of themounted police.[8]
In March 1853 Clarke was asked to replaceRobert Hoddle asSurveyor General of Victoria and arrived atMelbourne in May. His hard work and energy resulted in more land being sold in the next 18 months than in the years since 1836. He also established the Roads Boards that preceded the introduction of local government and was responsible for much of the planning of Victoria's first railways. His proposals for a government-controlled railway system were examined by a select committee and were made law in 1857. Additionally, he set up the first electric telegraph from Melbourne toWilliamstown, Victoria and was able to report in November 1857 that the service had reached the borders of New South Wales andSouth Australia.[8] In 1855 he was elected the inaugural president of thePhilosophical Institute of Victoria.[10]
Clarke entered theVictorian Legislative Council in August 1853 as an official representative, where he was active in the drafting of the new constitution. He was also responsible for the drafting and successful inauguration of the Municipal Institutions Act in December 1854, which provided for local government based on the English model in Melbourne's growing suburbs, on the goldfields, and in the country.[8]
At the 1856 elections, Clarke mounted a successful campaign againstDavid Blair for theSouth Melbourne seat in theVictorian Legislative Assembly, which he held until he left the colony. He joined the first cabinet underWilliam Haines, as Surveyor-General and Commissioner for Lands.[8]
In March 1858 Clarke was appointed permanent head of the Lands and Surveys Department and decided to return to England. In London, he tried and failed to secure the governorship ofQueensland and spent some months on barrack duty atColchester.[8]
From 1859 to 1864 Clarke served in the African colony of theGold Coast and in England, where he was Director of Works at theAdmiralty from 1864 to 1873.[8] During this period he co-authored a report on the Suez Canal withGeorge Henry Richards, Hydrographer to the Admiralty.[11]
Sir Andrew Clarke served as the governor of Singapore and thegovernor of the Straits Settlements from 4 November 1873 until 8 May 1875. Clarke played a key role in positioning Singapore as the main port for theMalay states ofPerak,Selangor andSungei Ujong.
Due to his contributions,Singapore'sClarke Quay was named after him. Clarke Street, located next to Clarke Quay, was officially named in 1896 and was originally two streets known simply as East Street and West Street in north Kampong Malacca. Today it is a pedestrian mall and a popular nightspot.
AsGovernor of the Straits Settlements, Clarke was famous for signing theTreaty of Pangkor in 1874, which established a British protectorate over theMalay States. In that same year, Clarke successfully enforced a check on the abuse ofcoolies with support of the prominent Chinese leaders and European merchants. Clarke achieved fame through his negotiations in regard toSungei Ujong inMalaya, sorting out the differences between different leaders inNegeri Sembilan.
Clarke was blamed for the death of the first Britishresident inPerak,James Wheeler Woodford Birch, due to his ignorance of a complaint, whenSultan Abdullah of Perak wrote a letter to inform him about Birch's rudeness against theMalay rulers, because at that time he was about to retire and did not want that problem to destroy his reputation as one of the most successful colonial administrators.
Clarke was instrumental in determining the outcome of the Klang War which took place from 1867 to 1874 as well as placingSelangor under British protection.
TheStraits Settlements were becoming increasingly dependent on the economy of Selangor. Selangor through the 19th and the 20th was one of the world's major tin producers. Since Selangor's security affected tin trade, the British felt it needed to have a say in Selangor politics. The British saw Tengku Kudin as a ticket to reach out to Selangor's royal court. Therefore, theStraits Settlements led by Clarke implicitly supported Tengku Kudin in the war.
Throughout the war, Tengku Kudin brought in soldiers fromKedah andPahang along with mercenaries andEuropean officers from theStraits Settlements. The end result was a victory for Tengku Kudin.
While the British through Clarke was on Tengku Kudin's side, the post-war situation had weakened Tengku Kudin's power base due to the Selangor royal family's suspicion of Tengku Kudin and the British. Therefore, Andrew Clarke was forced to freeze the plan to reach out to the royal family through Tengku Kudin.
In November 1873 however, a ship from Penang was attacked by pirates nearKuala Langat,Selangor. After a number of piracy attacks took place in Selangor, Andrew Clarke assignedFrank Swettenham as a live-in advisor toSultan Abdul Samad in August 1874. Sultan Abdul Samad acceptedJames Guthrie Davidson, a lawyer fromSingapore, as the firstBritish Resident of Selangor in 1875. In October the same year, Sultan Abdul Samad sent a letter to Andrew Clarke requesting for Selangor to be placed under the Britishprotectorate.[12][13]
From 1875 to 1880 Clarke was on the council of theViceroy of India. He was Commandant of theRoyal School of Military Engineering at Chatham from 1881 to 1882, and finally was Inspector-General of Fortifications in England from 1882 to 1886.
After Clarke's retirement from the army, he unsuccessfully contestedChatham for theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom in 1886 and 1892 as a follower ofWilliam Ewart Gladstone andHome Rule. Clarke retained an interest in the Australian colonies, and briefly acted asAgent-General for Victoria in 1886, 1891, and 1893, before being appointed agent-general in 1899, which post he held until his death.
Clarke also served as a director ofPalmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, theColonial Life Assurance Society, the Delhi-Umbala Railway Co. and theBritish North Borneo Company.[14]
In December 1901 he was appointedColonel Commandant of the Royal Engineers.[15]
Clarke died at his house inPortland Place, London, on 29 March 1902. He was predeceased by his wife, Mary Margaret MacKillop, whom he had married on 17 September 1867, and he was survived by their only child, Elinor Mary de Winton.[8]
His body was borne toPaddington Station and brought by train toBath, Somerset, where he was interred with his wife inLocksbrook Cemetery. Their memorial, a bronze sarcophagus with an angel, is the work ofEdward Onslow Ford. It is listed Grade II byHistoric England.
| Other offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Surveyor General of Victoria May 1853 – March 1857 | Succeeded by |
| Victorian Legislative Council | ||
| New seat | Nominated member 29 August 1853 – March 1856 | Original Council abolished |
| Victorian Legislative Assembly | ||
| New district | Member forSouth Melbourne November 1856 – August 1858 | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Straits Settlements 4 November 1874 – 8 May 1875 | Succeeded by |
| Military offices | ||
| Preceded by | Inspector-General of Fortifications and Director of Work 1882–1886 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Colonel Commandant, Royal Engineers 1901–1902 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
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