John Clarke, DL, JP (died 6 May 1675) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

from 1670 to 1675. Clarke was the son of Roger Clarke of Great Torrington, Devon and his wife Honor Hockin, daughter of Christopher Hockin, clothier, of Frithelstock, Devon. He became an agent of Josceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland. He was J.P. for Northumberland from July 1660 until his death, and commissioner for assessment for Northumberland from 1661 to 1663. He was commissioner for assessment for Northumberland and Newcastle upon Tyne from 1664 to 1674. In 1662 he became a freeman of Newcastle. In 1670 Clarke was elected

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 ...

for

Cockermouth Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...

in the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of C ...

. He was Deputy Lieutenant from 1670 until his death. In 1675 he was commissioner for recusants for Cumberland. He purchased land in Chirton, Northumberland, in what is now

North Shields North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newc ...

, from Ralph Reed in 1672. There he built

Chirton Hall Chirton Hall or Chirton House, occasionally spelled Churton and originally Cheuton, was a country house in Chirton, in what is now a western suburb of North Shields, Tyne and Wear, North East England. Historically, the house was in the county of ...

with materials initially from the demolished

Warkworth Castle Warkworth Castle is a ruined medieval castle in Warkworth in the English county of Northumberland. The village and castle occupy a loop of the River Coquet, less than a mile from England's north-east coast. When the castle was founded is unc ...

. Clarke died in 1675 after ten days sickness, "mostly of a lethargy". Clarke married Jane, but had no issue. In 1685, his widow married Philip Bickerstaffe, MP for

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census reco ...

and later for Northumberland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, John 1675 deaths People from North Shields Politicians from Tyne and Wear English MPs 1661–1679 English justices of the peace Year of birth unknown