Clarke Baronets

Clarke Baronets

There have been five baronetcies created for persons with the surname Clarke (as distinct from Clark, Clerk and Clerke), two in the Baronetage of England and three in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. Two of the creations are extant as of 2010.

The Clarke Baronetcy, of Salford Shirland in the County of Warwick, was created in the Baronetage of England on 1 May 1617 for Simon Clarke. He later supported the Royalist cause during the Civil War. The fifth Baronet was convicted of highway robbery. He managed to escape the death penalty but was deported to Jamaica. The title became either extinct or dormant on the death of the eleventh Baronet in 1898. Henry Stephenson Clarke (1839-1919), a descendant of Woodchurch Clarke, younger son of the first Baronet, was a Colonel in the Royal Artillery. His grandson Sir Ashley Clarke was Ambassador to Italy between 1953 and 1962.

The Clarke Baronetcy, of Snailwell in the County of Cambridge, was created in the Baronetage of England on 25 July 1698 for Samuel Clarke. The second Baronet sat as Member of Parliament for Cambridgeshire. The third Baronet was Sheriff of Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire between 1753 and 1754. The title became extinct on the death of the sixth Baronet in 1806.

The Clarke, later Clarke-Travers Baronetcy, of Crosses Green in the County of Cork, was created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 28 June 1804. For more information on this creation, see Clarke-Travers baronets.

The Clarke Baronetcy, of Dunham Lodge in the County of Norfolk, was created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 30 September 1831 for Charles Clarke, Physician to Queen Adelaide. The third Baronet was a prominent soldier. The sixth Baronet adopted the additional Christian name of Tobias in 1962. The heir apparent, Lawrence Clarke, was selected for Great Britain in the XXX Olympiad in London in 2012 for the 110m hurdles.

The Clarke Baronetcy, of Rupertswood in the Colony of Victoria, was created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 29 December 1882 for the Australian landowner and philanthropist William Clarke. The Clarke family was originally from Weston Zoyland, Somerset. William John Turner Clarke, father of the first Baronet, settled in Australia in 1829. He was a member of the Legislative Council of Victoria. The presumed fourth Baronet has not successfully proven his succession and is therefore not on the Official Roll of the Baronetage. However, the case is under review by the Standing Council of the Baronetage. For more information, follow this link.

Sir Francis Grenville Clarke (1879-1955), fifth son of the first Baronet, was President of the Legislative Council of Victoria between 1923 and 1943.