Henry Clarke (1743–1818) was an English mathematician, a significant teacher in north-west England, and mathematical writer and translator. He worked also as a surveyor and science lecturer.

Life

He was the son of Thomas Clarke, born at Salford and baptised 17 April 1743; William Augustus Clarke the

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

minister and

Protestant Association The Gordon Riots of 1780 were several days of rioting in London motivated by anti-Catholic sentiment. They began with a large and orderly protest against the Papists Act 1778, which was intended to reduce official discrimination against British ...

member was his brother. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School, and at age of 13 became assistant in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

academy of the Quaker Aaron Grimshaw, a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

. Here he made the acquaintance of

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...

. After a brief partnership with Robert Pulman, a schoolmaster at Sedbergh, he travelled in Europe, and returned to settle as a

land surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. He again became a schoolmaster, and the rest of his career was spent in educational posts. He first had a "commercial and mathematical" school in Salford, giving lectures on astronomy and other scientific subjects. While the school was not a success in financial terms, Clarke trained future mathematicians, such as Hugh Byrom and Thomas Molineux, and contributors to mathematical periodicals, including the '' Ladies' Diary''. Clarke in 1788 was an unsuccessful candidate for the salaried mastership of a school in

Stretford Stretford is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, south of Manchester city centre, south of Salford and north-east of Altrincham. Str ...

. A member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, in 1783 Clarke became lecturer in mathematics and experimental philosophy in its "College of Arts and Sciences", which only lasted a few years. In 1792 he moved to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, and, after returning to Manchester, was at Bristol from 1799 till 1802. He was in that year appointed professor of history, geography, and experimental philosophy at the

Royal Military College Royal Military College may refer to: ;Australia * Royal Military College, Duntroon, Campbell, Australian Capital Territory ;Canada * Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario * Royal Military College Saint-Jean, Saint-Jean, Quebec ;Mala ...

at Great Marlow, which moved in 1812 to

Sandhurst, Berkshire Sandhurst is a town and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest borough in Berkshire, England. It is in the south eastern corner of Berkshire, and is situated west-southwest of central London, north west of Camberley and south of Bracknell ...

. In 1802 he was also made LL.D. by the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. Clarke retired on a pension in 1817, and died at

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

, 29 April 1818. He had been a candidate for the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1783, but was opposed by the influence of Sir Joseph Banks, then its President.

Samuel Horsley Samuel Horsley (15 September 1733 – 4 October 1806) was a British churchman, bishop of Rochester from 1793. He was also well versed in physics and mathematics, on which he wrote a number of papers and thus was elected a Fellow of the Royal Soc ...

, a critic of Banks, singled out this case.

Works

Clarke's works were: * ''Practical Perspective'', 1776 (for the use of schools). * ''The Rationale of Circulating Numbers'', 1777. * ''Dissertation on the Summation of Infinite Converging Series with Algebraic Divisors'', translated from Antonio Maria Lorgna, 1779, with appendix.

John Landen John Landen (23 January 1719 – 15 January 1790) was an English mathematician. Life He was born at Peakirk, near Peterborough in Northamptonshire, on 28 January 1719. He was brought up to the business of a surveyor, and acted as land agent to ...

attacked it in a pamphlet, stating that the method was contained in Thomas Simpson's ''Mathematical Dissertations''. Clarke replied in a ''Supplement'' (1782), and to a further attack in ''Additional Remarks'', 1783. The controversy was noted in Charles Hutton's ''Mathematical Dictionary'' (under "Landen"), the work having been dedicated to Hutton. Clarke was attacked in the ''

Monthly Review The ''Monthly Review'', established in 1949, is an independent socialist magazine published monthly in New York City. The publication is the longest continuously published socialist magazine in the United States. History Establishment Following ...

'' for 1783, and defended by Horsley. * ''The School Candidates'', 1788, a squib on the election to Stretford school. Clarke appears to have published two further pieces, ''The Pedagogue'' and ''The College'', of similar character, about the same time. * ''Tabula Linguarum'', 1793, tables of declension and conjugation in forty languages, a book of outmoded philology. * ''Tachygraphy, or Shorthand improved'', before 1800, based on

John Byrom John Byrom or John Byrom of Kersal or John Byrom of Manchester FRS (29 February 1692 – 26 September 1763) was an English poet, the inventor of a revolutionary system of shorthand and later a significant landowner. He is most remembered as t ...

's system. * ''The Seaman's Desiderata'', 1800, tables for calculating longitude, etc. * ''Animadversions on Dr. Dickson's translation of Carnot's reflections on the Theory of the Infinitissimal Calculus'', 1802. Against William Dickson's translation of

Lazare Carnot Lazare Nicolas Marguerite, Count Carnot (; 13 May 1753 – 2 August 1823) was a French mathematician, physicist and politician. He was known as the "Organizer of Victory" in the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Education and early ...

. * ''Abstract of Geography'', 1807, school book for Marlow College. * ''Virgil revindicated'', 1809, answer to a tract by Horsley on the "Two Seasons of Honey" in the ''

Georgics The ''Georgics'' ( ; ) is a poem by Latin poet Virgil, likely published in 29 BCE. As the name suggests (from the Greek word , ''geōrgika'', i.e. "agricultural (things)") the subject of the poem is agriculture; but far from being an example ...

'' of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

. Clarke was a contributor to mathematical journals, especially to the ''Ladies' Diary'', edited by Charles Hutton, from 1772 to 1782. He drew some plates for John Whitaker's ''History of Manchester''.

Family

On 2 April 1766 Clarke married Martha Randle of Manchester. Of 17 children, two sons and four daughters survived him.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Henry 1743 births 1818 deaths English mathematicians Schoolteachers from Greater Manchester English writers Scientists from Salford