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. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

lawyer. He was one of the first 11

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ( initialism: UKSC or the acronym: SCOTUK) is the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom for all civil cases, and for criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As the Unite ...

Justices A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

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 o ...

. He was appointed to the

Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (HKCFA or CFA) 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 t ...

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 Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and Head of Civil Justice. As a judge, the Master of ...

and Head of Civil Justice in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the 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. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is En ...

. 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. In 1957 the trial of suspected

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

John Bodkin Adams John Bodkin Adams (21 January 18994 July 1983) was an Irish-born 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 ...

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

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

Career

He was called to the

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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 I ...

in 1965. He developed a

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and

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Pri ...

law practice. He became a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in 1979, and was a

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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 orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are ...

. 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 Admiralty courts, also known as maritime courts, are courts exercising jurisdiction over all maritime contracts, torts, injuries, and offences. Admiralty courts in the United Kingdom England and Wales Scotland The Scottish court's earli ...

. He sat in the

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

, the Commercial Court and the

Crown Court The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some either way offences and appeals lied to it by the magistrates' courts. It is one of three Senior Courts of England and W ...

, 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 t ...

in 1998 and sworn of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

. 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. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

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

Stone-cum-Ebony Stone-cum-Ebony is a large mostly rural and marshland civil parish centred SSW of Ashford in Kent, South East England. It includes the village of Stone in Oxney and tiny community of Ebony. Its population expanded by 69 in the ten years t ...

, in the County of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, and took his seat as a

crossbencher A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...

in the

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

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. 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

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of the

Shipwrights' Company The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights is one of the ancient livery companies of the City of London. Although the Shipwrights' Company is no longer a shipbuilding trade association representing solely London-based industry, through its members ...

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

Adam, whom he married in 1968, and has three children.

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 overdr ...

'' *'' Autoclenz Ltd v Belcher''

Notes

External links

The Court of Appeal
('' HM Courts Service'')
Senior judiciary biographies - Master of the Rolls
(''Judicial Communications Office'')
Debrett's People of Todaywww.parliament.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Tony, Baron Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony 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 People from Kent Justices of the Court of Final Appeal (Hong Kong) 20th-century English judges Life peers created by Elizabeth II