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 for the ministry. Though offered preferment in the church of England, he declined it on conscientious grounds. He became the pastor of a nonconformist congregation at St. Albans, where he was greatly esteemed for his consistent character and faithful labours. The first charity school in connection with a dissenting congregation was instituted by Clarke, giving gratuitous education in reading, writing, and arithmetic to thirty boys and ten girls. Though Clarke published some sermons, the work for which he is remembered is his ‘Collection of the Promises of Scripture,’ arranged systematically. It is a mere compilation, but it has been often reprinted, and is still a popular religious volume. Clarke was on intimate terms with Doddridge, Watts, and Orton, and of the same theological school. Doddridge was his special friend; it was in going to preach Clarke's funeral sermon that he caught the illness which caused his death (4 Dec. 1750). It is said that Clarke suggested to Dr. Doddridge some of the books which he published; in particular, his ‘Principles of the Christian Religion.’ Clarke married Sarah Jones, of St. Albans (1701–1757), by whom he had a son, Joseph (1738–1807), and other issue.



CLARKE, THEOPHILUS (1776?–1831?), painter, is stated to have been born in 1776. He was a student at the Royal Academy, and also enjoyed the privilege of being John Opie's pupil. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1795, sending ‘Una—from Spenser's Faery Queene,’ and ‘A Shepherd Boy.’ He continued to exhibit annually up to 1810, after which year all trace of him is lost. In 1803 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy. The bulk of his work consisted of portraits, among those exhibited being portraits of Charles Kemble, the Countess of Erne, Lieutenant-colonel and Lady Caroline Stuart-Wortley, Lord and Lady Mulgrave, Count Woronzow, and others. He also painted and exhibited landscapes, fishing, domestic, and fancy subjects. Among these were ‘Dorothea—from Don Quixote,’ exhibited in 1802, and engraved in mezzotint by William Say; ‘The Lovers’ and ‘The Pensive Girl,’ from Thomson's ‘Seasons;’ ‘Margate, fishing boats going out;’ ‘A view of the common fields at Hayes, Middlesex.’ He also exhibited occasionally at the British Institution. Clarke resided in London, but the date of his death is unknown. His name was on the list of associates till 1832.



CLARKE, THOMAS (1703–1764), master of the rolls, was the younger son of a carpenter in St. Giles's parish, Holborn, whose wife kept a pawnbroker's shop. Through the influence of Zachary Pearce, afterwards dean of Westminster, Clarke was admitted on the foundation of St. Peter's College, Westminster, in 1717, being then fourteen years of age. In 1721 he obtained his election to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was admitted on 10 June, then aged eighteen, as the son of Thomas Clark of London (, Admissions to Gray's Inn, p. 155). He graduated B.A. 1724, M.A. 1728, and became a fellow of his college in the preceding year. He was admitted a member of Gray's Inn on 20 Oct. 1727, and appears to have been called to the bar on 21 June 1729. Being introduced by his friend Dr. Pearce to Lord Macclesfield, the ex-lord chancellor, Clarke collated his lordship's copy of ‘Fleta’ with Selden's edition, and in 1735 published anonymously his only work, ‘Fleta seu Commentarius Juris Anglicani.’ By Lord Macclesfield he was strongly recommended to the favour of Sir Philip Yorke. Favoured with such powerful patronage, Clarke's ultimate success was assured, and in January 1740 he was appointed a king's counsel. In 1742 he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn ‘from Gray's Inn.’ In June 1747 Clarke was returned for the borough of St. Michael's, Cornwall, and at the succeeding general election in April 1754 was elected member for Lostwithiel. On the death of Sir John Strange he was appointed master of the rolls, 25 May 1754, and was knighted on the same day (London Gazette, 1754, No. 9374). The question as to whom this appointment should have been given to is discussed in an interesting letter from Thomas Holles, duke of Newcastle, the prime minister, to Lord-chancellor Hardwicke (, Life of Lord-chancellor Hardwicke, 1847, iii. 10–13). On 21 June following Clarke was admitted to the privy council (London Gazette, 1794, No. 9382), and in the month of December was re-elected for Lostwithiel, which he continued to represent until the dissolution of parliament in March 1761. He was not returned to the following parliament, and there is no record of any speech which he may have made while in the house. After holding the office of master of the rolls for a little more than ten years, he died on 13 Nov. 1764, aged 61, and was buried in the Rolls Chapel. From the dates of his admission to