Anthony Peter Clarke, Baron Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony, (born 13 May 1943) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

lawyer. He was one of the first 11

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC) is the final court of appeal for all civil cases in the United Kingdom and all criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as some limited criminal cases ...

Justices ''Justice'' (abbreviation: ame ''J.'' and other variations) is an honorific style and title traditionally used to describe a jurist who is currently serving or has served on a supreme court or some equal position. In some countries, a justice ma ...

and was the first High Court judge to be appointed directly to that court when it came into existence on 1 October 2009 without previously having sat as a

Lord of Appeal in Ordinary Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

. He was appointed to the

Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (HKCFA) is the final appellate court of Hong Kong. It was established on 1 July 1997, upon the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, replacing the Judicial Committee of the Priv ...

on 11 April 2011 as a non-permanent judge. He was previously

Master of the Rolls The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Court of Appeal (England and Wales)#Civil Division, Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales ...

and Head of Civil Justice in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...

. He retired from the Supreme Court in September 2017.

Early life and education

Clarke was born to Harry and Isobel Clarke. He was educated at

Oakham School Oakham School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school) in Oakham, Rutland, England. The school was founded in 1584 by Archdeacon Robert Johnson, along with Uppingham School, a few miles away. They share a common b ...

. In 1957 the trial of suspected

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

John Bodkin Adams John Bodkin Adams (21 January 18994 July 1983) was a British general practitioner, convicted fraudster, and suspected serial killer. Between 1946 and 1956, 163 of his patients died while in comas, which was deemed to be worthy of investigation ...

first made him interested in pursuing a career in the law. He read Economics and Law at

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

Career

He was called to the Bar at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in 1965. He developed a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

and maritime law practice. He became a

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1979, and was a Recorder sitting in both criminal and civil courts from 1985 to 1992. In 1993, Clarke became a High Court judge and, as is customary, was appointed a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

. He was allocated to the

Queen's Bench Division The King's Bench Division (or Queen's Bench Division when the monarch is female) of the High Court of Justice deals with a wide range of common law cases and has supervisory responsibility over certain lower courts. It hears appeals on point ...

and, in April 1993, he succeeded Mr Justice Sheen as the Admiralty Judge. He sat in the

Admiralty Court Admiralty courts, also known as maritime courts, are courts exercising jurisdiction over all admiralty law, maritime contracts, torts, injuries, and offenses. United Kingdom England and Wales Scotland The Scottish court's earliest records, ...

, the Commercial Court and the

Crown Court The Crown Court is the criminal trial court, court of first instance in England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals of the decisions of magistrates' courts. It is ...

, trying commercial and criminal cases respectively. Clarke was promoted to the

Court of Appeal of England and Wales The Court of Appeal (formally "His Majesty's Court of Appeal in England", commonly cited as "CA", "EWCA" or "CoA") is the highest court within the Senior Courts of England and Wales, and second in the legal system of England and Wales only to ...

in 1998 and sworn of the privy council. Shortly thereafter, he led the Thames Safety Inquiry and in the following year the judicial inquiry into the ''Marchioness'' disaster. He was

from 2005 until 2009. On 15 April 2009, it was announced that he would be created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

, was gazetted on 29 May 2009 with the title of Baron Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony, of Stone-cum-Ebony, in the County of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, and took his seat as a

crossbencher A crossbencher is a minor party or independent member of some legislatures, such as the Parliament of Australia. In the British House of Lords the term refers to members of the parliamentary group of non-political peers. They take their name fr ...

in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

on 1 June 2009. It was announced on 20 April 2009 that Clarke was to be appointed to the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

with effect from 1 October 2009. Clarke retired from the Supreme Court in September 2017. He sat in the House of Lords until his retirement from the House on 14 September 2020. A

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the Shipwrights' Company, Clarke was an Assistant from 2000 and Prime Warden for 2014–15.

Personal life

He lives in Kent and London with his wife, Rosemary,

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Adam, whom he married in 1968, and has three children - Ben, Thomas and Sally, his son Thomas has 2 grandchildren - Romilly and Leonora

Arms

List of decided cases

*'' Pennington v Waine'' *''

OFT v Abbey National plc is a judicial decision of the United Kingdom Supreme Court relating to bank charges in the United Kingdom, with reference to the situation where a bank account holder goes into unplanned overdraft. When a bank customer uses an unplanned overdra ...

'' *''

Autoclenz Ltd v Belcher ''Autoclenz Ltd v Belcher'' 011UKSC 41is a landmark UK labour law and English contract law case decided by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, concerning the scope of statutory protection of rights for working individuals. It confirmed the ...

Notes

External links

The Court of Appeal
(''

HM Courts Service Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS) was an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and was responsible for the administration of the civil, family and criminal courts in England and Wales. It was created by the amalgamation of the Ma ...

'')
Senior judiciary biographies – Master of the Rolls
(''Judicial Communications Office'')
Debrett's People of Todaywww.parliament.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony, Tony Clarke, Baron 1943 births Living people People educated at Oakham School Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Crossbench life peers 21st-century English judges Knights Bachelor Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Queen's Bench Division judges Masters of the Rolls Judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Lawyers from Kent Justices of the Court of Final Appeal (Hong Kong) 20th-century English judges Life peers created by Elizabeth II Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014