Edward George Clarke
Encyclopedia
Sir Edward George Clarke QC
QC (15 February 1841 – 26 April 1931) was a British barrister
and politician, considered one of the leading advocates of the late Victorian era
and serving as Solicitor-General
in the Conservative
government of 1886–1892. His legal career included representing Oscar Wilde
in his disastrous prosecution of the Marquess of Queensberry
for libel, and representing the plaintiff in the "Baccarat Case
", during which Sir Edward cross-examined the Prince of Wales
.
. He was educated at King's College London
. In 1859 he became a writer in India Office
, but resigned in the next year, and became a law reporter. He obtained a Tancred scholarship in 1861, and was called to the bar
at Lincoln's Inn
in 1864, joining the Home Circuit.
in 1880, and quickly came to be recognised as one of the leading members of the bar; he became a bencher
of Lincoln's Inn
in 1882, and was knighted in 1886. He also entered Parliament
as Conservative
MP
for Southwark
at a by-election early in 1880, but being unable to hold the seat at the general election later that year he was elected instead for Plymouth
. He was Solicitor-General
in the Conservative administration of 1886–1892, but declined office when the party returned to power in 1895 as he would have been debarred from continuing his lucrative private practice.
In 1899, Clarke found himself in total disagreement with his party over the government's South African policy
, and he resigned his seat at Plymouth early the following year. He did not contest the general election of 1900, but returned to the House as MP for the City of London
in 1906; however, he offended a section of his constituents by a speech against tariff reform in the House of Commons on 12 March 1906, and shortly afterwards he resigned his seat again on grounds of health.
He published a Treatise on the Law of Extradition in 1903, and several volumes of speeches (both political and legal). His autobiography, The Story of My Life, was published in 1918, and a biography by Derek Walker-Smith and his Grandson Edward Clarke (Life of Sir Edward Clarke) followed in 1939. He also wrote a biography of Benjamin Disraeli.
in the defence team for suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams
. His youngest son William Clarke
trained as a lawyer, but became a cryptographer.
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
QC (15 February 1841 – 26 April 1931) was a British barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
and politician, considered one of the leading advocates of the late Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
and serving as Solicitor-General
Solicitor General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...
in the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
government of 1886–1892. His legal career included representing Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
in his disastrous prosecution of the Marquess of Queensberry
John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry
John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry GCVO was a Scottish nobleman, remembered for lending his name and patronage to the "Marquess of Queensberry rules" that formed the basis of modern boxing, for his outspoken atheism, and for his role in the downfall of author and playwright Oscar...
for libel, and representing the plaintiff in the "Baccarat Case
Royal Baccarat Scandal
The Royal Baccarat Scandal, also known as the Tranby Croft scandal, was an English gambling scandal of the late nineteenth century involving the future King Edward VII.-Background:...
", during which Sir Edward cross-examined the Prince of Wales
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
.
Background and early life
Clarke was the son of J. G. Clarke of Moorgate Street, LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. He was educated at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
. In 1859 he became a writer in India Office
India Office
The India Office was a British government department created in 1858 to oversee the colonial administration of India, i.e. the modern-day nations of Bangladesh, Burma, India, and Pakistan, as well as territories in South-east and Central Asia, the Middle East, and parts of the east coast of Africa...
, but resigned in the next year, and became a law reporter. He obtained a Tancred scholarship in 1861, and was called to the bar
Call to the bar
The Call to the Bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party, and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received a "call to the bar"...
at Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
in 1864, joining the Home Circuit.
Legal career
Clarke quickly gained a high reputation at the junior bar, and made his name appearing for the defence in the two most notorious cases of 1877, securing the acquittal of his namesake Chief Inspector Clarke in the Great Scotland Yard scandal (when other senior CID detectives were convicted of corruption) and unsuccessfully defending Patrick Staunton (who had been accused of complicity in starving his sister-in-law to death) in the Penge Murder. On the back of these successes Clarke took silkQueen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
in 1880, and quickly came to be recognised as one of the leading members of the bar; he became a bencher
Bencher
A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher can be elected while still a barrister , in recognition of the contribution that the barrister has made to the life of the Inn or to the law...
of Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
in 1882, and was knighted in 1886. He also entered Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
as Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Southwark
Southwark (UK Parliament constituency)
Southwark was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Southwark district of South London. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the English Parliament from 1295 to 1707, to the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and to the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
at a by-election early in 1880, but being unable to hold the seat at the general election later that year he was elected instead for Plymouth
Plymouth (UK Parliament constituency)
Plymouth was a parliamentary borough in Devon, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in 1298 and again from 1442 until 1918, when the borough was merged with the neighbouring Devonport and the combined area divided into three single-member constituencies.-In the...
. He was Solicitor-General
Solicitor General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...
in the Conservative administration of 1886–1892, but declined office when the party returned to power in 1895 as he would have been debarred from continuing his lucrative private practice.
In 1899, Clarke found himself in total disagreement with his party over the government's South African policy
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
, and he resigned his seat at Plymouth early the following year. He did not contest the general election of 1900, but returned to the House as MP for the City of London
City of London (UK Parliament constituency)
The City of London was a United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1950.-Boundaries and boundary...
in 1906; however, he offended a section of his constituents by a speech against tariff reform in the House of Commons on 12 March 1906, and shortly afterwards he resigned his seat again on grounds of health.
He published a Treatise on the Law of Extradition in 1903, and several volumes of speeches (both political and legal). His autobiography, The Story of My Life, was published in 1918, and a biography by Derek Walker-Smith and his Grandson Edward Clarke (Life of Sir Edward Clarke) followed in 1939. He also wrote a biography of Benjamin Disraeli.
Famous Cases
- R v Clarke and Others, 1877 (The Trial of the DetectivesTrial of the DetectivesThe Trial of the Detectives was a police corruption scandal involving three senior officers at Scotland Yard in 1877....
). Clarke secured the acquittal of Chief Inspector Clarke, the acting head of the Detective Department at Scotland YardScotland YardScotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
, on charges of corruption. Three other, more junior, police officers were convicted, and the detective division of the Metropolitan PoliceMetropolitan policeMetropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
was completely reorganised as a result.
- R v Staunton, Staunton, Staunton and Rhodes, 1877 (The Penge Murder). Harriet Staunton, a mentally-disabled woman of 38, had died at PengePengePenge is a suburb of London in the London Borough of Bromley. It is located south east of Charing Cross.-History:Penge was once a small town, which was recorded under the name Penceat in a Saxon deed dating from 957...
in KentKentKent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, apparently of starvation. Her husband, Lewis Staunton, together with his brother, his brother's wife and his mistress (who was his brother's wife's sister) were charged with murdering her by deliberate neglect; although they were charged only with one murder, it was generally believed that they were also responsible for the death of Harriet's baby son, also by starvation. Clarke defended Patrick Staunton, the brother; although all four were convicted and sentenced to death, sufficient doubt about the strict legal position had been raised at the trial that the sentences of the three Stauntons were commuted to penal servitude for life, and the fourth defendant, Alice Rhodes, was given a free pardon.
- R v Bartlett, 1886 (The Pimlico MysteryPimlico MysteryThe Pimlico Mystery or the Pimlico Poisoning Mystery is the name given to the circumstances surrounding the 1886 death of Thomas Edwin Bartlett, possibly at the hands of his wife, Adelaide Blanche Bartlett, in the Pimlico district of London...
). Clarke defended Adelaide Bartlett on a charge of having murdered her husband by poisoning with chloroform; she was acquitted.
- Gordon-Cumming v. Wilson and OthersRoyal Baccarat ScandalThe Royal Baccarat Scandal, also known as the Tranby Croft scandal, was an English gambling scandal of the late nineteenth century involving the future King Edward VII.-Background:...
, 1891 (The Royal Baccarat Case or Tranby Croft Scandal). Clarke represented Sir William Gordon-CummingSir William Gordon-Cumming, 4th BaronetSir William Alexander Gordon Gordon-Cumming, 4th Baronet was a Scottish landowner, soldier and adventurer. A notorious womaniser, he is best known for being the central figure in the Royal Baccarat Scandal...
, who sued eight people for slander after being accused of cheating at cards. The case was notorious because the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, had been banker during the game in which Gordon-Cumming was said to have cheated; the Prince was called as a witness, and vigorously cross-examined by Clarke. Nevertheless, Gordon-Cumming lost the case.
- Wilde v Queensberry, 1895; R v Wilde, 1895. Clarke represented Oscar WildeOscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
in his ill-advised prosecution of the Marquess of QueensberryJohn Douglas, 9th Marquess of QueensberryJohn Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry GCVO was a Scottish nobleman, remembered for lending his name and patronage to the "Marquess of Queensberry rules" that formed the basis of modern boxing, for his outspoken atheism, and for his role in the downfall of author and playwright Oscar...
for criminal libel. Queensberry being found not guilty, Clarke considered himself partly to blame for the tactics pursued during the trial, and when Wilde was subsequently arrested and prosecuted for homosexual practices, Clarke considered himself duty-bound to undertake the defence, which he did while refusing to accept a fee. Clarke was initially widely condemned for doing so, even within the legal profession, outraged as much by a barrister appearing without a fee as by their revulsion for Wilde, although opinions were later reversed. In the first trial, when Clarke’s conduct of the defence was described by the prosecuting counsel as “courageous and brilliant”, the jury disagreed; but Clarke was unable to persuade the jury in the re-trial against a guilty verdict.
- R. v Jameson, Willoughby and others, 1896. Clarke defended Leander Starr JamesonLeander Starr JamesonSir Leander Starr Jameson, 1st Baronet, KCMG, CB, , also known as "Doctor Jim", "The Doctor" or "Lanner", was a British colonial statesman who was best known for his involvement in the Jameson Raid....
for his organisation of the Jameson RaidJameson RaidThe Jameson Raid was a botched raid on Paul Kruger's Transvaal Republic carried out by a British colonial statesman Leander Starr Jameson and his Rhodesian and Bechuanaland policemen over the New Year weekend of 1895–96...
. Jameson was convicted and sentenced to fifteen months in jail, but was soon pardoned, and was generally treated as a national hero.
Family
Clarke's son, Percival Clark, was a prominent lawyer in the 1920s and 1930s. His great-nephew, Edward Clarke, followed him into law and was number two to Frederick Geoffrey LawrenceFrederick Geoffrey Lawrence
Sir Frederick Geoffrey Lawrence QC was a British lawyer, High Court Judge, Chairman of the Bar Council and Chairman of the National Incomes Commission. He first came to prominence when he defended suspected serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams in 1957, the first murder case he handled...
in the defence team for suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams
John Bodkin Adams
John Bodkin Adams was an Irish-born British general practitioner, convicted fraudster and suspected serial killer. Between the years 1946 and 1956, more than 160 of his patients died in suspicious circumstances. Of these, 132 left him money or items in their will. He was tried and acquitted for...
. His youngest son William Clarke
William Clarke (cryptographer)
William Francis 'Nobby' Clarke was a British intelligence officer and cryptographer of naval codes in both World Wars.In 1915 he was commissioned as an assistant paymaster, having failed the eye examination for executive officer. He knew German, and in March 1916 joined Room 40. His talent was for...
trained as a lawyer, but became a cryptographer.