Sir William Clarke (died 1666) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. Born about 1623 in London of obscure parentage, he was admitted as a student to

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in 1645 and called to the bar in 1653. On 28 January 1661 he was appointed

Secretary at War The secretary at war was a political position in the English and later British government, with some responsibility over the administration and organization of the Army, but not over military policy. The Secretary at War ran the War Office. Aft ...

, after having served for at least the previous twelve years as secretary to

General Monck George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle (6 December 1608 3 January 1670) was an English military officer and politician who fought on both sides during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A prominent military figure under the Commonwealth, his support ...

. Clarke served as Secretary to the Council of the Army, 1647–1649, and Secretary to General Monck and the Commanders of the Army in Scotland, 1651-1660. Clarke served as the Secretary at War from 1661 to his death in 1666, as a casualty of war with the Dutch. With the Restoration, both Monck and Clarke had great favour with Charles II, who bestowed knighthood upon Clarke and gave him the use, for a term of some years, of the great lodge and 60 acres within Marylebone Park. His widow was Dorothy Clarke, and they had one son,

George Clarke George Clarke (7 May 1661 – 22 October 1736), of All Souls, Oxford, was an English architect, print collector and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1702 and 1736. Life The son of Sir William Clark ...

Circumstances related to Clarke's death

In November 1652 Monck became a general at sea in the

First Anglo-Dutch War The First Anglo-Dutch War, or First Dutch War, was a naval conflict between the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Republic. Largely caused by disputes over trade, it began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but expanded to vast ...

, which was concluded with an English victory in the

Battle of Scheveningen The Battle of Scheveningen was the final naval battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War. It took place on July 31st 1653 between the fleets of the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Republic. The Dutch fleet suffered heavy losses. Background A ...

in August 1653, although a peace treaty was not signed for another eight months. The

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

government of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

tried to avoid further conflict with the Dutch Republic, but the Treaty of Westminster planted the seeds of future conflict. The Restoration government of Charles II negotiated a new treaty with the Dutch Republic in 1661, concluding the treaty by 1662. By 1664, however, English ships had begun provoking Dutch ships, and the English invaded the Dutch colony of

New Netherland New Netherland () was a colony of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

on 24 June 1664, and had control of it by October. This

Second Anglo-Dutch War The Second Anglo-Dutch War, began on 4 March 1665, and concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Breda (1667), Treaty of Breda on 31 July 1667. It was one in a series of Anglo-Dutch Wars, naval wars between Kingdom of England, England and the D ...

was to cost Clarke his life. In the winter of 1666 the Dutch created a strong anti-English alliance. On 26 January, Louis declared war. In February

Frederick III of Denmark Frederick III (; 18 March 1609 – 9 February 1670) was King of Denmark and Norway from 1648 until his death in 1670. He also governed under the name Frederick II as diocesan administrator (colloquially referred to as prince-bishop) of the ...

did the same after having received a large sum. By the spring of 1666, the Dutch had rebuilt their fleet with much heavier ships — thirty of them possessing more cannon than any Dutch ship in early 1665 — and threatened to join with the French. The result was the

Four Days' Battle The Four Days' Battle was a naval engagement fought from 11 to 14 June 1666 (1–4 June O.S.) during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. It began off the Flemish coast and ended near the English coast, and remains one of the longest naval battles in ...

, one of the longest naval engagements in history. Despite administrative and logistic difficulties, a fleet of eighty ships under General-at-Sea Monck, the Commonwealth veteran, (after the Duke of Albemarle) set sail at the end of May 1666. In his official capacity Clarke attended Monck aboard the ''Royal Charles''. The Four Days' Battle began on June 1. On the 2nd day, Clarke's right leg was shattered by a cannonball. Monck reported that "he bore it bravely" but, two days later, Clarke died. His body was buried at

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

The Clarke Papers

The Clarke Papers are Sir William's working papers for 1623/24 to 1666, bequeathed by George Clarke, Sir William's son, to

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

. These papers, an important primary source for the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

and the

Interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...

, were first brought to wide public attention by the historian

Charles Harding Firth Sir Charles Harding Firth (16 March 1857 – 19 February 1936) was a British historian. He was one of the founders of the Historical Association in 1906. Esmond de Beer wrote that Firth "knew the men and women of the seventeenth century much ...

. He edited and published a four volume selection entitled ''The Clarke Papers'' (1891–1901). The papers themselves are 51 bound volumes with a large amount of unbound material. In 2005, the historian Frances Henderson published a new selection of Clarke's working papers taken from the large collection of his writings in shorthand.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, William 1620s births 1666 deaths People of the Anglo-Dutch Wars