Ralph Clarke (British politician)
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Colonel Sir Ralph Stephenson Clarke, KBE, TD, DL (17 August 1892 – 9 May 1970)[1] was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for East Grinstead from 1936 to 1955.
He was elected to the House of Commons at a by-election in July 1936, after East Grinstead's Conservative MP Henry Cautley was ennobled as Baron Cautley.[2] Clarke held the seat until he stood down at the 1955 general election.[3]
He was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of West Sussex in 1932,[4] and in the 1955 New Year Honours, he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), "for political and public services".[5]
Family
Clarke was the son of Colonel Stephenson Clarke. He married Rebekah Mary Buxton, daughter of Gerald Buxton and Lucy Ethel Pease, on 15 December 1921, and they had three children.[6] His wife was from the Pease family of Darlington; Lucy's father was Joseph Whitwell Pease and her maternal grandfather was Alfred Fox, who created Glendurgan Garden.
The Stephenson Clarkes were the founders[7] in 1730 of Stephenson Clarke Shipping, Britain's oldest shipping company.[8] In 1892, Ralph Clarke's father purchased a 200-acre (0.81 km2) estate at Borde Hill, near Haywards Heath in West Sussex, and from about 1912 began collecting trees and shrubs began by financing plant-collecting expeditions to the Himalayas and China.[9] Ralph Clarke took up residence there is 1949, after the death of his father, and opened the gardens to the public in 1965.[9]
References
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- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 33835. p. 3875. 14 June 1932. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
- ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 40366. p. 11. 1 january 1955. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
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External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Ralph Clarke
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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Preceded by | Member of Parliament for East Grinstead 1936 – 1955 |
Succeeded by Evelyn Emmet |
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- Articles lacking reliable references from February 2013
- Articles with dead external links from October 2010
- 1892 births
- 1970 deaths
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs
- UK MPs 1935–45
- UK MPs 1945–50
- UK MPs 1950–51
- UK MPs 1951–55
- Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- Deputy Lieutenants of West Sussex
- People from Haywards Heath
- Royal Artillery officers
- Conservative MP (UK), 1890s birth stubs