Godfrey Bagnall Clarke (c.1742-26 December 1774), of Sutton Scarsdale Hall in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, was a British

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

, representing

Engraving Sutton Scarsdale Hall circa 1820

He was the eldest son of Godfrey Clarke and his wife Anne, the daughter and heiress of German Pole of Radbourne, Derbyshire and undertook the

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tut ...

to Italy. Clarke was elected to Parliament in 1768, winning a contested election (a rare event in Derbyshire) to beat one of the sitting MPs, Sir Henry Harpur. Clarke's personal politics are unknown, and he seems never to have spoken in the House of Commons, but he was supported by the Derbyshire

Tories A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

and voted consistently with the opposition. He was re-elected unopposed in October 1774 but was already ill, and died only two months later, unmarried and in his early thirties. His estates at Sutton, Chilcote Hall and

Somersall Hall Somersall Hall is a small country house near Brampton, Chesterfield, Derbyshire. It is a Grade II listed building. The Clarke family owned the estate in the 16th century. Godfrey Clarke and his son Sir Gilbert Clarke served as High Sheriff of D ...

passed to his sister who married Joseph Hart Pryce (Clarke from 1787) and then to their daughter Anna Maria Clarke who married Walter Butler, 18th Earl of Ormonde. Clarke was a great friend of the historian

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, '' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, is ...

, whom he met while on the

, and Gibbon executed his will.

References

* Lewis Namier & John Brooke, ''The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790'' (London: HMSO, 1964) * D M Low, ''Edward Gibbon 1737-1794'' (London: Chatto & Windus, 1937) * 1740s births 1774 deaths People from North East Derbyshire District Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Tory MPs (pre-1834) British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub