Sir Fielding Clarke (23 February 1851 – 30 July 1928) was a British colonial barrister, civil servant and jurist. He served as Chief Justice of Fiji,

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

and

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Early life

Clarke was the fourth son of Henry Booth Clarke and his wife Isabella. He married in 1888 Mary (May) Milward Pierce, the daughter of Mr Justice Timbrell Pierce D.L.

Education

Clarke was educated in Switzerland and then returned to England to attend King's College London and

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

(LLB). On 12 November 1872 he was admitted to

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

and in 1876 was called to the bar of the Middle Temple.

Career

After being called to the Bar, Clarke practised on the North Eastern Circuit. In 1881, he embarked on career as a civil servant and jurist in various British colonies. In that year, he was appointed Attorney General of Fiji in 1881 and served in that position until 1885. He acted as

Chief Justice of Fiji The chief justice is Fiji's highest judicial officer. The office and its responsibilities are set out in Chapter 5 of the 2013 Constitution of Fiji. The Chief Justice is appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister Prime Mi ...

and Chief Judicial Commissioner, Western Pacific from 1882 to 1883 and in 1884. In 1885 he was appointed

& Chief Judicial Commissioner, Western Pacific. He served in that position until 1889. In 1889, he was appointed

Puisne Judge A puisne judge or puisne justice (; from french: puisné or ; , 'since, later' + , 'born', i.e. 'junior') is a dated term for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. Use The term is used almost exclusively in common law ...

, of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong. In 1892 he was appointed Chief Justice of Hong Kong succeeding Sir James Russell. Clarke was knighted in 1894 while Chief Justice of Hong Kong. In 1896 he was appointed as Chief Justice of Jamaica and served in that position until 1911 when he retired. He moved to

Southchurch Southchurch is an inner city area of the city of Southend-on-Sea, in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. England. In 1911 the parish had a population of 3954. History In 824 AD, a Saxon thegn, Leofstan pr ...

, Essex and later lived in

Stifford Stifford is an area and former civil parish in the unitary authority of Thurrock, Essex, England. The traditional parish of Stifford is divided by the A13 trunk road into two communities known respectively as North and South Stifford. In 1931 t ...

, Essex. In retirement, he was appointed, in 1916, to the Appeal Tribunal for the

County of Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

created under the

Military Service Act 1916 The Military Service Act 1916 was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom during the First World War to impose conscription in Great Britain, but not in Ireland or any other country around the world. The Act The Bill which became ...

which introduced conscription.

Death

Clarke died on 30 July 1928 in Essex, England.The Daily Gleaner, 15 August 1928, p1 , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Fielding 1851 births 1928 deaths Alumni of King's College London Attorneys General of the Colony of Fiji Attorneys-general of Fiji British expatriates in Fiji British expatriates in Hong Kong British expatriates in Jamaica British expatriates in Switzerland British Hong Kong judges Chief judicial commissioners for the Western Pacific Chief justices of Fiji Chief justices of Jamaica Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong Colony of Fiji judges Colony of Jamaica judges Knights Bachelor Lawyers awarded knighthoods Members of the Middle Temple 19th-century Jamaican judges