William John Clarke - Late Life

Late Life

In Clarke's later years, although his interests lay principally in the country, he lived at his town house Cliveden in East Melbourne. He died suddenly at Melbourne on 15 May 1897. He was created a baronet in December 1882. He married twice — firstly in 1860 to Mary, daughter of the Hon. John Walker and secondly in 1873 to Janet Marian, daughter of Peter Snodgrass, M.L.C., who survived him with two sons and two daughters of the first marriage, and three sons and two daughters of the second marriage.

Clarke's name was a household word in Victoria. He made few large donations but his help could constantly be relied on by hospitals, charitable institutions, and agricultural and other societies. He divided one of his estates into small holdings and was a model landlord, and he showed much foresight in allying science with agriculture by employing MacIvor as a lecturer. His second wife, Janet Lady Clarke, who had been associated with him in philanthropic movements, kept up her interest in them, especially in all matters relating to women, until her death on 28 April 1909. One of their sons, Sir Francis Grenville Clarke, went into politics and was a member of several Victorian ministries. He became president of the Legislative Council in 1923 and held that position for almost 20 years and was created K.B.E. in 1926.