Sir Richard William Barnes Clarke, KCB,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(13 August 1910 – 21 June 1975), also known as Sir Otto Clarke, was a British

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

Early life and education

Clarke was born in

Heanor Heanor (/ˈhiːnə/) is a town in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. It lies north-east of Derby and forms, with the adjacent village of Loscoe, the civil parishes in England, civil parish and town council-administered area of He ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, the son of schoolmaster William Thomas Clarke and Helen Rodway Barnes.''1911 England Census'' He was educated at

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter, located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. T ...

, London and

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...

, where he was sixth wrangler in 1931. He sat the examinations of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

in 1932 and was awarded their Frances Wood Prize.

Career

Clarke worked for the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers' Association, 1932–33. He was then on the staff of the ''Financial News'' (later taken over by the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'') until 1939 and devised the Ordinary Share Index, now the Financial Times Ordinary Share Index. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served in the Ministries of Information, Economic Warfare, and Supply and Production, and with the

Combined Production and Resources Board The Combined Production and Resources Board was a temporary World War II government agency that allocated the combined economic resources of the United States and Britain. It was set up by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston ...

in Washington, 1942–43. He joined the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry; in a business context, corporate treasury. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be ...

in 1945 and was its Second Permanent Secretary, 1962–66. He was then

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

at the

Ministry of Aviation The Ministry of Aviation was a department of the United Kingdom government established in 1959. Its responsibilities included the regulation of civil aviation and the supply of military aircraft, which it took on from the Ministry of Supply. ...

in 1966, then at the

Ministry of Technology The Ministry of Technology was a department of the government of the United Kingdom, sometimes abbreviated as "MinTech". The Ministry of Technology was established by the incoming government of Harold Wilson in October 1964 as part of Wilson's am ...

until 1970, retiring from the Civil Service in 1971. From 1973, he was a Vice-President of the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

. According to Sir Douglas Wass, Clarke was "a character you either loved and hated or hated" – although he himself stated "I loved him." Wass stated that, with the exception of Sir Leo Pliatzky, Clarke held most ministers and colleagues "in high disesteem".

Honours

Richard Clarke was given the honours of

in 1944,

Companion of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior military officers or senior civil servants, and the monarch awards it on the advice of His ...

in 1951, and

Knight Commander of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior military officers or senior civil servants, and the monarch awards it on the advice of His ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

Personal life

He was the father of politician

Charles Clarke Charles Rodway Clarke (born 21 September 1950) is a British Labour Party politician who held various Cabinet positions under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2001 to 2006, lastly as Home Secretary from December 2004 to May 2006. Clarke was th ...

. According to Clarke's son Mark, the nickname "Otto" was possibly because Clarke's "forceful" personality was considered Germanic. According to Sir Sam Brittan, "it was because his round glasses and the bridge over the nose looked like OTTO." He devised the English Chess Federation (formerly British Chess Federation) Grading System, first published in 1958, whereby points are scored by chess players for every game played in a registered competition.

References

External links

The Papers of Richard W. B. Clark
held at

Churchill Archives Centre The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers ...

, Cambridge {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Richard 1910 births 1975 deaths Second Permanent Secretaries of HM Treasury Permanent Secretaries of the Ministry of Aviation Permanent Secretaries of the Ministry of Technology Civil servants in the Ministry of Information (United Kingdom) Civil servants in the Ministry of Economic Warfare Civil servants in the Ministry of Supply British statisticians Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Christ's Hospital Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge