Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Clarke, Alured (1696-1742)

by William Prideaux Courtney

CLARKE, ALURED (1696–1742), dean of Exeter, was the son of Alured Clarke, gentleman, of Godmanchester in Huntingdonshire, who died on 28 Oct. 1744, aged 86, by his second wife, Ann, fourth daughter of the Rev. Charles Trimnell, rector of Ripton-Abbotts, in the same county, who died on 26 May 1755, aged 88. His mother was a sister of Bishop Trimnell. His only brother was Charles Clarke (d. 1750), baron of the exchequer [q. v.] Alured's education began at St. Paul's School, and from 1712 to 1719 he held one of its exhibitions; and although his direct connection with that foundation ceased at the latter date, he showed his interest in his old school by acting as steward at its feast in 1723, and preaching before its members in 1726. On 1 April 1713 he was admitted a pensioner at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, taking the degrees of B.A. 1716, M.A. 1720, D.D. 1728, and being elected to a fellowship in 1718. About 1720 he contested the post of professor of rhetoric at Gresham College, but his candidature was unsuccessful. This disappointment was quickly banished from his mind by his rapid rise in the church, for which he was mainly indebted to his whig relatives. He was chaplain in ordinary to George I and George II. The valuable living of Chilbolton in Hampshire and a prebendal stall in Winchester Cathedral were bestowed upon him in May 1723. He was installed as prebendary of Westminster in July 1731, and as dean of Exeter in January 1741, a prebend in the same cathedral being attached to the latter preferment. The whole of these cathedral dignities, together with the position of deputy clerk of the closet, were retained by him until his death, and no doubt he would have received further advancement had he not been afflicted with severe illness for many years before his death. In 1732 he purposed applying for the position of British consul at Algiers, for the benefit of a warmer climate. But he seems never to have quitted England, and gradually wasting away, he died on 31 May 1742. He was buried, without a monument, in Westminster Abbey; but the position of his grave is described in the funeral book as 'in the north cross, under a large old gravestone, next the south angle of the late Duke of Newcastle's monument.'

In politics Clarke was a whig; his religious opinions were in unison with those of Queen Caroline and her spiritual adviser. Dr. Samuel Clarke: and his letters, many of which are printed in Mrs. Thomson's 'Memoirs of Viscountess Sundon,' disclose his greed of preferment in the church. But his benevolence and his generosity knew no bounds, and the expression of the 'good Samaritan' has been applied to him by a member of the Roman church. Through his zeal and activity a county hospital, the first in England outside London, was established at Winchester in 1736, and its constitution and rules proceeded from his pen. Although the hand of death was upon him at the time, he laid the foundation-stone of the Devon and Exeter Hospital in Exeter, of which he has been called the co-founder, on 27 Aug. 1741, and for the good of his successors expended large sums in repair of the decanal house at Exeter. His whole surplus income is said to have been spent in charity. Queen Caroline was sincerely attached to Clarke, and he reciprocated her feeling. His chief literary labour was 'An Essay towards the Character of her late Majesty, Caroline,' 1738, and printed in German at Altona in the same year. It praises, and not without justice, her charity, her kindly disposition, and her philosophical knowledge; but it draws on the credulity of its readers in lauding the king's devotion to his wife. Of the 'nauseous panegyrics' that appeared every day after Queen Caroline's death, says that good hater, the Duchess of Marlborough, is 'one very remarkable, from a Dr. Clarke, in order to have the first bishoprick that falls, and I dare say he will have it, though there is something extremely ridiculous in the panegyric.' Clarke's other works were all sermons.

1. Sermon preached at St. Paul's, 25 Jan. 1726, on the anniversary meeting of gentlemen educated at St. Paul's School, 1726.
2. Sermon preached before the House of Commons, at St. Margaret's, Westminster, on 31 Jan. 1731, London, 1731, 2nd edit. 1731.
3. Sermon preached in Winchester Cathedral, before the governors of the County Hospital, at its opening, on St. Luke's Day, 18 Oct. 1736, 1737, 2nd edit. 1737, 3rd edit. Norwich, 1769. With this sermon is usually found 'A Collection of Papers relating to the County Hospital at Winchester, 1737,' the introduction of fifteen pages being signed 'Alured Clarke.'
4. Sermon preached before the Trustees of the Charity Scnools at Exeter Cathedral, 13 Oct. 1741, 1741.

There are three portraits of Clarke at the Exeter Hospital. The largest, an oil painting by James Wills, hangs in the board-room; a small portrait, in crayons, is in the dining-room, and with it is a mezzotint engraving by Haskol, after Wills, but differently treated.

[Oliver's Bishops of Exeter, 277; Oliver's City of Exeter, 162-3, 165; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. v. 362; Opinions of Duchess of Marlborough, in her Private Correspondence (1838), ii. 169; R. Masters's Corpus Christi Coll. Camb. (1763), 267-8; Gardiner's St. Paul's School, 69, 401, 450: Chester's Registers of Westminster Abbey, 360; Bishop Rundle's Letters, i. pp. cxlviii-clxv; Mrs. Thomson's Viscountess Sundon, passim; Fox's Godmanchester, 303; Western Antiquary, iii. 106-7.]

W. P. C.