John Creemer Clarke (1821 – 11 February 1895) was an English merchant and cloth manufacturer and a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

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 1874 to 1885.

Early life

Clarke was the son of Robert Clarke of St Giles in the Wood,

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

and his wife Graciana Creemer, daughter of John Creemer of Exbourne Devon.

Career

He started work in a drapery business in Bideford before moving to Abingdon from Devon in 1840. He joined the firm of Hyde and Son, clothing manufacturers before it became Hyde, Son and Clarke, and finally Clarke, Sons and Co. The factory in West St Helen Street employed 2,000 people at one stage making it one of the largest clothing manufacturers in the country. He was a Justice of the Peace for

Abingdon-on-Thames Abingdon-on-Thames ( ), commonly known as Abingdon, is a historic market town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England, on the River Thames. Historically the county town of Berkshire, since 1974 Abingdon has been ad ...

Debrett's House of Commons 1881
/ref> and Mayor of Abingdon-on-Thames in 1869. He was also Chairman of Abingdon Railway Company from 1873. At the 1874 general election, Clarke was elected as the

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 ...

(MP) for Abingdon. He was re-elected in

1880 Events January–March * January 22 – Toowong State School is founded in Queensland, Australia. * January – The international White slave trade affair scandal in Brussels is exposed and attracts international infamy. * February � ...

and he held the seat until he retired from Parliament at the 1885 general election.

Other work

Clarke was a philanthropist who gave land and helped fund the building of Trinity Church often referred to as 'Clarke’s Chapel'. He also funded the building of the cottage hospital in Abingdon in 1886. He was on the governing body of Abingdon School from c.1890 until 1895 and was a Master of

Christ's Hospital of Abingdon Christ's Hospital of Abingdon is a charity with a long history, based in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire (formerly Berkshire). History A royal charter established the Master and Governors of the Hospital of Christ of Abingdon in 1553, the year ...

Personal life

Clarke married firstly in 1845 Anna Maria Avis, daughter of John Avis of Minehead Somerset. She died in 1848 and in 1849 he married secondly Elizabeth Joyce, daughter of John Joyce of Timberscombe Somerset. The 1861 census shows that he resided at Waste Court, a property that was handed down to his third son Harry Thomas Clarke (a borough magistrate) on his death in 1895. Waste Court is now part of Abingdon School and was renamed Austin House in 2015. Another son John Heber Clarke along with Harry Thomas Clarke were both Mayors of Abingdon.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, John Creemer 1821 births 1895 deaths People from Abingdon-on-Thames Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 Governors of Abingdon School 19th-century English businesspeople