- For other persons named Edward Clarke, see Edward Clarke
Sir Edward Clarke, QC (15 February 1841-26 April 1931) was a British barrister and politician, considered one of the leading advocates of the late Victorian era and serving as Solicitor-General in the Conservative government of 1886–1892. Edward Clarke may refer to Eddie Clarke (1950&ndash) British heavy metal guitarist Edward Clarke (MP for Norwich, English MP for Norwich Events 590 - Khosrau II is crowned as king of Persia 1637 - Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor For the game see 1841 (board game. Year 1841 ( MDCCCXLI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link Events 1467 - The miraculous image in Our Lady of Good Counsel appear in Genazzano, Italy. Year 1931 ( MCMXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A barrister is a Lawyer found in many Common law Jurisdictions that employ a split profession (as opposed to a Fused profession) in relation Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is a Political party in the United Kingdom. His legal career included representing Oscar Wilde in his disastrous prosecution of the Marquess of Queensberry for libel, and representing the plaintiff in the "Baccarat Case", during which Sir Edward cross-examined the Prince of Wales. Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900 was an Irish Playwright, Novelist, poet and Author of John Sholto Douglas 9th Marquess of Queensberry GCVO ( 20 July 1844 &ndash 31 January 1900) was a Scottish nobleman remembered The Royal Baccarat Scandal, also known as the Tranby Croft scandal, was an English gambling scandal of the late nineteenth century involving the future King Edward
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Life
Edward George Clarke was the son of J G Clarke of Moorgate Street, London, and was born on 15 February 1841. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Events 590 - Khosrau II is crowned as king of Persia 1637 - Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor For the game see 1841 (board game. Year 1841 ( MDCCCXLI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link In 1859 he became a writer in India Office, but resigned in the next year, and became a law reporter. The India Office was the British government department responsible for the direct administration of India during the British Raj. He obtained a Tancred scholarship in 1861, and was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1864, joining the Home Circuit. The Call to the Bar is a legal Term of art in most Common law jurisdictions The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which Barristers of England and Wales belong and where He quickly gained a high reputation at the junior bar, and made his name appearing for the defence in the two most notorious cases of 1877, securing the acquittal of his namesake Chief Inspector Clarke in the Great Scotland Yard scandal (when other senior CID detectives were convicted of corruption) and unsuccessfully defending Patrick Staunton (who had been accused of complicity in starving his sister-in-law to death) in the Penge Murder.
On the back of these successes Clarke took silk in 1880, and quickly came to be recognised as one of the leading members of the bar; he became a bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1882, and was knighted in 1886. Queen's Counsel ( postnominal QC) &ndash known as King's Counsel ( KC) during the reign of a male sovereign &ndash are A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court. The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which Barristers of England and Wales belong and where He also entered Parliament as Conservative MP for Southwark at a by-election early in 1880, but being unable to hold the seat at the general election later that year he was elected instead for Plymouth. The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is a Political party in the United Kingdom. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. Southwark was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Southwark district of South London. Year 1880 ( MDCCCLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Results |} Total votes cast 3359416 Voting summary Seats summary Plymouth was a Parliamentary borough in Devon, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs to the House of Commons in 1298 and again from He was Solicitor-General in the Conservative administration of 1886–1892, but declined office when the party returned to power in 1895 as he would have been debarred from continuing his lucrative private practice. Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney Year 1886 ( MDCCCLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1892 ( MDCCCXCII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Year 1895 ( MDCCCXCV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year
In 1899, Sir Edward found himself in total disagreement with his party over the government's South African policy, and he resigned his seat at Plymouth early the following year. Year 1899 ( MDCCCXCIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common See also First Boer War,, South African Wars (1879-1915 The Second Boer War ( Dutch: Tweede Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: He did not contest the general election of 1900, but returned to the House as MP for the City of London in 1906; however, he offended a section of his constituents by a speech against tariff reform in the House of Commons on 12 March 1906, and shortly afterwards he resigned his seat again on grounds of health. The United Kingdom general election of 1900 was held from 25 September to 24 October 1900 The City of London was a former United Kingdom Parliamentary Constituency. The United Kingdom general election of 1906 was held from 12 January to 8 February 1906 For the protectionist Australian political party from the 1880s to 1909 see Protectionist Party Events 538 - Witiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving Year 1906 ( MCMVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting
He published a Treatise on the Law of Extradition in 1903, and several volumes of speeches (both political and legal). His autobiography, The Story of My Life, was published in 1918, and a biography by Derek Walker-Smith and his Grandson Edward Clarke (Life of Sir Edward Clarke) followed in 1939.
Famous Cases
- R v Clarke and Others, 1877 (The Trial of the Detectives). Clarke secured the acquittal of Chief Inspector Clarke, the acting head of the Detective Department at Scotland Yard, on charges of corruption. New Scotland Yard or Scotland Yard, informally known as The Yard and NSY, is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, responsible Three other, more junior, police officers were convicted, and the detective division of the Metropolitan Police was completely reorganised as a result. "Metropolitan Police" redirects here See also Metropolitan police.
- R v Staunton, Staunton, Staunton and Rhodes, 1877 (The Penge Murder). Harriet Staunton, a mentally-disabled woman of 38, had died at Penge in Surrey, apparently of starvation. Penge is a place in the London Borough of Bromley. It is a suburban development situated south east of Charing Cross. Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. Her husband, Lewis Staunton, together with his brother, his brother's wife and his mistress (who was his brother's wife's sister) were charged with murdering her by deliberate neglect; although they were charged only with one murder, it was generally believed that they were also responsible for the death of Harriet's baby son, also by starvation. Clarke defended Patrick Staunton, the brother; although all four were convicted and sentenced to death, sufficient doubt about the strict legal position had been raised at the trial that the sentences of the three Stauntons were commuted to penal servitude for life, and the fourth defendant, Alice Rhodes, was given a free pardon.
- R v Bartlett, 1886 (The Pimlico Mystery). The Pimlico Mystery is the name given to the circumstances surrounding the 1886 death of Thomas Edwin Bartlett, possibly at the hands of his wife Adelaide Bartlett Clarke defended Adelaide Bartlett on a charge of having murdered her husband by poisoning with chloroform; she was acquitted.
- Gordon-Cumming v. Wilson and Others, 1891 (The Royal Baccarat Case or Tranby Croft Scandal). The Royal Baccarat Scandal, also known as the Tranby Croft scandal, was an English gambling scandal of the late nineteenth century involving the future King Edward Clarke represented Sir William Gordon-Cumming, who sued eight people for slander after being accused of cheating at cards. Sir William Alexander Gordon Gordon-Cumming 4th Baronet ( 20 July, 1848 – 20 May, 1930) was a Scottish Landowner, The case was notorious because the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, had been banker during the game in which Gordon-Cumming was said to have cheated; the Prince was called as a witness, and vigorously cross-examined by Clarke. Nevertheless, Gordon-Cumming lost the case.
- Wilde v Queensberry, 1895; R v Wilde, 1895. Clarke represented Oscar Wilde in his ill-advised prosecution of the Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900 was an Irish Playwright, Novelist, poet and Author of John Sholto Douglas 9th Marquess of Queensberry GCVO ( 20 July 1844 &ndash 31 January 1900) was a Scottish nobleman remembered Queensbury being found not guilty, Clarke considered himself partly to blame for the tactics pursued during the trial, and when Wilde was subsequently arrested and prosecuted for homosexual practices, Clarke considered himself duty-bound to undertake the defence, which he did while refusing to accept a fee. Clarke was initially widely condemned for doing so, even within the legal profession, outraged as much by a barrister appearing without a fee as by their revulsion for Wilde, although opinions were later reversed. In the first trial, when Clarke’s conduct of the defence was described by the prosecuting counsel as “courageous and brilliant”, the jury disagreed; but Clarke was unable to persuade the jury in the re-trial against a guilty verdict.
- R. v Jameson, Willoughby and others, 1896. Clarke defended Leander Starr Jameson for his organisation of the Jameson Raid. Sir Leander Starr Jameson 1st Baronet, KCMG, CB, ( February 9, 1853 &ndash November 26, 1917) also known as " The Jameson Raid ( December 29, 1895 - January 2, 1896) was a raid on Paul Kruger 's Transvaal Republic carried out by a Jameson was convicted and sentenced to fifteen months in jail, but was soon pardoned, and was generally treated as a national hero.
Family
His great-nephew, Edward Clarke, followed him into law and was number two to Frederick Geoffrey Lawrence in the defence team for suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams. Sir Frederick Geoffrey Lawrence QC ( 5 April 1902 – 3 February 1967) was a British Lawyer, High Court John Bodkin Adams ( January 21, 1899 &ndash July 4, 1983) was an Irish-born British General practitioner, convicted [1]
References
- ^ Cullen, Pamela V. , "A Stranger in Blood: The Case Files on Dr John Bodkin Adams", London, Elliott & Thompson, 2006, ISBN 1-904027-19-9
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
- H Montgomery Hyde, Famous Trials 7: Oscar Wilde (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1962)
- J M Parrish and John R Crossland (eds), The Fifty Most Amazing Crimes of the Last Hundred Years (London: Odham's Press, 1936)
External links
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Locke Marcus Beresford |
Member of Parliament for Southwark with Marcus Beresford 1880 |
Succeeded by Arthur Cohen Thorold Rogers |
| Preceded by Peter Stewart Macliver Sir Edward Bates |
Member of Parliament for Plymouth with Peter Stewart Macliver 1880-1885 Sir Edward Bates 1885-1892 Sir William Pearce 1892-1895 Charles Harrison 1895-1898 Sigismund Mendl 1898-1900 1880–1900 |
Succeeded by Sigismund Mendl Hon. Ivor Churchill Guest |
| Preceded by Alban Gibbs Sir Joseph Dimsdale |
Member of Parliament for City of London with Sir Joseph Dimsdale Jan-Feb 1906 Arthur James Balfour Feb-Jun 1906 1906 |
Succeeded by Sir Frederick Banbury Arthur James Balfour |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by Sir Horace Davey |
Solicitor General for England and Wales 1886–1892 |
Succeeded by Sir John Rigby |
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