Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Clarke, Marshal James
CLARKE, Sir MARSHAL JAMES (1841–1909), South African administrator, born at Shronell, co. Tipperary, on 18 Oct. 1841, was eldest son of the Rev. Mark Clarke of Shronell. After being educated at a private school in Dublin and later at Trinity College, Dublin, he went to Woolwich in 1860 and obtained a commission in the royal artillery on 22 Feb. 1863, retiring in 1883 with the rank of lieut.-colonel. He spent the greater part of his career in South Africa, serving in a civil more often than in a military capacity. In 1874 he became resident magistrate of Pietermaritzburg in Natal. In 1876 he was A.D.C. to Sir Theophilus Shepstone [q. v.], then appointed special commissioner for South Africa. In 1877 he was sent on a mission to Sekukuni, who had been at war with the Boers on the northern frontier of the Transvaal near the Lydenburg goldfields, and he was in that year political officer and special commissioner at Lydenburg. He served in the Transvaal war of 1880–1, was twice mentioned in despatches, and was present at Potchefstroom as special commissioner. He was in charge of the Landdrost's office there when it was attacked and compelled to surrender by the insurgent Boers in December 1880. In 1881 he became resident magistrate at Quthing in Basutoland, and in 1882 commissioner of Cape police at King William's Town in the Cape Colony. In the same year he was sent to Egypt and appointed colonel commanding the Turkish regiment of Egyptian gendarmerie, receiving the third class of the order of the Medjidie. On 13 March 1884 Basutoland was taken over by the crown from the Cape government, and Clarke, who had now retired from the army, was appointed resident commissioner. He held that post till 1893, when he was made resident commissioner and chief magistrate of Zululand. After Zululand had been annexed to Natal, he was in 1898 appointed imperial resident commissioner of Rhodesia, under the southern Rhodesia order in council of that year, and held that appointment until he retired in 1905. Clarke, who had lost his left arm through a shooting accident, showed great capacity in native administration. Basutoland, which under the Cape government had been in a constant state of ferment, made marked progress in peace, contentment, and prosperity under his guidance. Constantly selected to fill difficult positions in South Africa, he was conspicuous among the men who won the confidence and respect of the natives of South Africa. He was created C.M.G. in 1880 and K.C.M.G. in 1886. He died at The Lodge, Enniskerry, co. Wicklow, on 1 April 1909, and was buried at Mount Jerome, Dublin.
He married in 1880 Anne Stacy, daughter of Major-general Bannastre Lloyd, and left two sons and one daughter.
[Colonial Office List; Blue Books; Who's Who; The Times, 5 April 1909; South Africa, 3 April 1909.]